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A  Study  of  Memory 


FOR 


Connected  Trains  of  Thought 


BY 


E.  N.  HENDERSON 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  REqyiREMENTs  for  the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the  Faculty  of 

Philosophy,  Columbia  University 


LT3/0&3 


pRies  OP 

IKE  NEW  ERA  PRINTINO  COMPANY, 
LANCASTER,   PA. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Introductory.  Education  and  Experimental  Psychol- 
ogy   I 

Part  I.  Education  and  the  Experimental  Study  of 

Memory 6 

Educational    Bearing   of    Certain    Experimental    Work   on 

Memory 7 

Data  Gathered  from  Experiments  with  Classes  of  School 

Children 8 

Results  of  Laboratory  Experimentation ii 

Summary  of  Results 19 

Part  II.     The  Special   Research 26 

The  Method 26 

The  Tests 28 

The  Classes  of  Subjects  tested 31 

The  Results 32 

A.  Amounts    of  Loss ,'. 3^ 

Effect  of  Age  and  Training  on  Power  to  Learn  and 

to  Remember 38 

Correlation  of  Scores  According  to  Ability 40 

Comparison  of  Results  in  Tests  3,  4,  and  5 49 

Effect  of  Method  of  Learning  on  Results 50 

Comparison  of  Standing  in  Tests  with   Teacher's 

Marks 51 

Summary  of  Conclusions  on  Amountsof  Loss 52 

B.  Character  of  the  Changes  in  the  Later  Reproductions  53 

1.  Recognized  Words 54 

2.  Accounts  of  Introspection  of  Graduate  Students.  58 

3.  Comparative    Strength    of  Memory  for  Details 

and  for  Larger  Topics 62 

4.  History  of  the  Ideas  regarding  the  Contents  of 

the  Passages 64 

a.  Types  of  Changes  in  the  Reproductions 65 

b.  Modifications  in  the  Reproduction  of  '  The 

Dutch  Homestead.' 70 

iii 


O  '-  •-  <-\ 


fl 


IV  CONTENTS. 

c.  Comparison  of    the  Generalizing  Processes 

in  Tests  3,  4  and  5 75 

d.  Comparison  of  tlie  Generalizing  Processes 

in  Adults  and  Children 80 

e.  Extent  of  Loss  of  Details  by  Generalizing 

Processes  82 

f.   Summary 83 

Educational  Significance  of  the  Results  of  theSpecial  Research     85 

Appendix 88 


■Ti. 


INTRODUCTORY.     EDUCATION  AND  EXPERIMEN- 
TAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

Any  one  who,  working  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  student 
of  education,  ventures  upon  the  territory  of  the  experimental 
psychologist  is  forced  to  come  to  some  conclusion,  for  better  or 
for  worse,  as  to  whether  experimental  psychology  has  anything 
to  give  to  the  intelligent  appreciation  of  education.  A  decision 
on  this  matter  will  rest  largely  upon  point  of  view.  One's  gen- 
eral philosophy  will  go  far  toward  determining  whether  one  says 
that  the  teacher  has  no  real  use  for  the  experimentalist  or  that 
education  must  be  revolutionized  by  this  comparatively  new  sci- 
ence. From  the  historical  point  of  view,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  consistency  should  keep  experimental  psychology  the 
willing  bond-servant  of  the  science  of  education.  For,  if  we 
regard  the  attempt  of  Herbart  to  deal  quantitatively  with  con- 
sciousness as  furnishing  the  initial  impulse  toward  the  develop- 
ment of  experimental  study  of  mental  phenomena,  then  it  is 
plain  that  in  its  beginnings  this  science  was  created  to  further 
an  analysis,  the  great  aim  of  which  was  a  theory  of  teaching. 
Herbart  was  primarily  interested  in  education,  and  his  psycho- 
logical theories  were  probably  influenced  largely  by  the  bias  of 
his  educational  principles.  The  experimental  psychology  that 
gives  us  what  it  declares  to  be  a  purely  academic  analysis  of 
consciousness  —  an  analysis  professedly  useless  to  the  teacher 
—  such  a  science  is,  indeed,  an  ungrateful  child.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  is  it  not  likely  that  a  science  of  education,  if  ever  there 
is  such  a  subject,  must  be  based  on  a  psychology  that  does  not 
fall  short  of  a  study  of  acts  of  will  in  such  a  way  as  to  further 
practical  efficiency  in  dealing  with  children  and  men?  May 
not  our  generation  be  justified  in  saying  not  only  that  knowl- 
edge is  power,  but  that  all  significant  knowledge  must  be  a 
source  of  practical  strength?  And  if  we  have  so  far  not  pro- 
foundly modified  educational  practice  by  reason  of  our  psycho- 


2  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

logical  investigations,  should  we  lose  hope?  The  Baconian 
method  realized  signally  feeble  results  in  the  hands  of  Bacon 
himself.  After  all,  will  not  any  verdict  on  the  relation  of  ex- 
perimental psychology  to  education  have  to  wait  a  few  more 
years  on  practical  results?  It  is  in  the  hope  that  we  may  be 
working  toward  such  results,  possibly  building  better  than  we 
know,  or  than  those  about  us  know,  that  the  following  study  is 
submitted,  claiming  to  be  on  the  one  hand  in  the  interest  of  ed- 
ucation, and  on  the  other  a  venture  in  the  field  of  experimental 
psychology. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  only  by  addressing  itself  to  peculiarly 
educational  problems  that  experimental  psychology  is  apt  to 
gain  any  results  of  substantial  educational  importance.  The 
teacher,  reading  over  the  dreary  tables  of  data  that  record  ex- 
perimental results,  finds,  it  is  true,  a  little  that  is  significant  for 
his  purposes.  Possibly  it  would  be  unjust  to  say  that  this  is  so 
little  that  it  does  not  repay  the  effort  expended  in  its  search. 
Certainly,  where  the  investigations  were  conceived  in  the  in- 
terest of  education,  we  may  expect  and  get  something.  The 
so-called  *  child-study '  movement  has  aimed  to  place  teaching 
on  a  '  scientific '  basis.  As  a  rule,  however,  it  has  been  scarcely 
scientific  enough  itself,  and  many  of  its  results  are  insufficiently 
criticised.  But  it  would  be  hard  to  measure  the  effect  of  the 
spirit  and  attitude  of  child  study  upon  ways  of  thinking  and 
methods  of  work  of  teachers,  and  upon  the  curriculum  gener- 
ally. However  unscientific  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  labora- 
tory science,  it  was,  nevertheless,  as  a  rule  more  accurate  and 
conclusive  than  mere  common  sense,  and  though  it  may  have 
worshipped  idols,  they  probably  replaced  the  fetishes  of  a  more 
debased  superstition.  The  teacher  who  endeavors  to  apply  the 
theory  of  culture  epochs  will  very  likely  work  more  intelligently 
than  one  who  simply  follows  in  blind  routine  the  grind  of 
centuries. 

Child  study  may  be  said  to  have  stood  for  the  thesis  that  the 
school  programme  should  conform  to  the  needs  of  the  child 
that  is,  rather  than  those  of  the  adult  that  is  to  be.  In  fact,  it  is 
claimed  that  only  in  being  true  to  the  nature  of  the  child  can  we 
properly  prepare  for  adult  life.     But  the  emphasis  is  laid,  not 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  3 

SO  much  on  education  as  preparation  for  the  future,  as  on  edu- 
cation as  interesting  and  satisfying  for  the  present.  Thus 
inspired,  the  new  education  has  introduced  a  muUitude  of  de- 
vices to  enrich  the  work  of  the  school-room,  to  provide  motives 
for  it,  and  to  render  it  interesting.  It  has  done  this,  confident 
that  the  essential  preparation  for  life  may  be  gained  far  more 
easily  and  effectively  in  this  way  than  by  the  unenlivened  dis- 
cipline of  the  old-fashioned  masters.  It  has  assumed  that  the 
natural  way  of  doing  things  is  the  effective  way,  and  has  busied 
itself  in  hunting  the  natural  way — which  was  to  be  revealed 
by  the  study  of  child  nature,  of  the  genesis  of  mind.  But  the 
assumption  remains  as  yet  unverified.  No  one  has  proved  that 
the  new  methods  of  education  are  better  than  the  old  in  prepar- 
ing for  life  or  even  in  teaching  the  rudiments  of  learning.  The 
new  education  has,  indeed,  striven  to  be  practical,  and  it  may 
with  justice  be  granted  that  a  persistent  attempt  to  be  a  thing 
ought  ordinarily  to  approximate  nearer  to  it  than  haphazard 
work.  But  it  can  scarcely  be  affirmed  that  the  old  education 
neglected  the  practical.  In  that  it  aimed  to  store  up  in  child- 
hood treasures  that  were  to  be  used  much  later,  it  was  apt  to  be 
miserly  and  to  collect  riches  that  were  never  used.  Worse  ! 
The  thief  of  forgetfulness  all  too  often  stole  away  most  of  its 
accumulations.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  new  education  may 
not  build  palaces  never  to  be  occupied,  it  runs  the  risk  of  not 
getting  beyond  mere  play-houses.  May  we  not  question  whether 
the  palace  crumbled  into  ruins  will  not  be  as  useful  to  the  man 
as  the  toy  structures  of  the  child?  Does  it  not  remain  to  be 
proved  that  the  games,  the  imitations,  the  natural  occupations 
of  the  child  furnish  the  most  effective  means  of  preparing  him 
for  the  life  that  is  to  come?  Is  that  education  which  is  practical 
in  preparing  for  immediate  needs  more  practical  in  the  long 
run  than  the  one  that  thinks  almost  solely  of  the  remote  future? 
I  do  not  think  that  we  can  doubt  that  our  modern  schools  are 
more  interesting  than  their  forerunners.  The  old-fashioned 
schoolmasters  were  not  concerned  very  much  in  pleasing  the 
child.  But  as  yet  we  have  no  means  of  determining  adequately 
the  effectiveness  of  results  in  education.  That  our  educational 
methods  succeed,  too  often  means  that  they  gratify  the  preju- 


4  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

dices  of  parents  or  excite  the  interest  of  pupils,  rather  than  that 
they  prepare  adequately  for  the  future.  The  judgment  of  time 
may  often  be  counted  on  to  eliminate  the  unfit  in  this  business 
of  training  for  life.  But  a  school  ought  to  be  able  to  test  its 
methods  before  they  land  it  in  bankruptcy.  Nor  should  its 
success,  like  that  of  a  dramatic  company,  depend  on  the  ability 
to  gratify  the  fancy.  We  need  usable  criteria  for  determining 
the  success  of  school  work.  These  criteria  should  be  based  on 
the  needs  of  life  rather  than  on  the  work  of  the  school.  Other- 
wise they  merely  test  the  child's  success  in  certain  work  with- 
out reference  to  the  real  value  of  the  work  itself,  and  the  real 
standing  of  the  child  in  the  race  of  life.  Such  tests  would  be 
able  to  anticipate  the  careers  of  our  graduates  more  confidently 
than  those  now  in  vogue. 

In  this  period  of  educational  experimentation,  of  storm  and 
stress  in  school  circles,  the  need  of  scientifically  determined 
methods  of  examination  by  which  we  can  get  something  like  an 
adequate  test  of  the  effect  of  our  various  school  methods  is 
especially  desirable.  From  whom  are  these  methods  of  testing 
to  come  if  not  from  the  educational  psychologist?  Certainly  no 
one  is  in  a  better  position  to  view  various  subjects  and  methods 
impartially.  The  specialist  in  any  department  is  apt  to  have 
his  eyes  turned  toward  his  course  of  study.  He  will  examine 
to  find  whether  his  students  have  learned  what  was  taught  them. 
Doubtless  this  is  a  very  important  kind  of  test.  But  who  is  to 
determine  what  value  this  learning  has  for  life?  Some  will  say 
that  there  is  no  way  of  settling  this  question  except  by  waiting 
for  the  practical  test  of  living.  Unquestionably  this  is  in  many 
cases  true ;  possibly  in  all  cases.  Yet  if  it  were  uniformly  so, 
who  is  to  collect  the  facts  by  which  the  verdict  of  life  is  brought 
home  to  the  teacher?  For  this  is  not  so  simple  a  matter  as  it 
may  appear.  Suppose  we  could  show  that  most  of  our  ablest 
men  knew  Greek.  Would  this  show  that  their  ability  was  due 
to  their  study  of  Greek,  or  that,  as  Professor  Thorndike  sug- 
gests, most  people  with  considerable  ability  happen  to  have 
been  taught  Greek.  To  disentangle  apparent  from  real  evi- 
dence in  these  matters,  to  determine  in  how  far  a  college  exami- 
nation in  history  is  comparable  to  a  life  examination  in  the  same 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  5 

subject,  or  in  the  citizenship  to  which  it  is  supposed  to  con- 
tribute ;  such  tasks  certainly  require  special  training,  ability  to 
gather  a  special  kind  of  evidence,  and  the  entire  time  of  a 
special  body  of  workers.  A  hopeless  task,  you  may  think,  but 
certainly  the  matter  is  of  such  importance  as  to  make  any  gain 
that  may  result  from  substituting  scientific  methods  for  guess- 
work a  gain  worth  while.  To  settle  by  adequate  tests  the 
relative  efficiency  of  different  methods  of  learning  to  read,  to 
write,  to  compute,  would  mean  immense  advance.  Indeed,  the 
imagination  can  picture  an  age  in  which  the  random  work  of 
our  schools  will  be  as  much  surpassed  as  is  the  scientific  method 
of  antiquity  by  modern  experimentation.  In  such  an  age  no 
one  will  mistake  even  experienced  judgment  for  proof,  and  the 
number  of  questions  in  regard  to  which  men  will  plunge  into 
controversy  instead  of  resorting  to  investigation  will  have  been 
materially  reduced. 

It  would  seem  then  a  not  insignificant  division  to  say  that 
educational  psychology  works  at  two  problems.  The  first  is 
that  of  the  nature  of  mental  growth,  and  the  second  concerns 
the  effect  of  mental  training.  These  problems  are  mutually 
interdependent.  Yet  from  the  educational  point  of  view  each 
is  worthy  of  distinct  treatment.  For  the  one  is  concerned  with 
processes,  the  other  with  results  ;  the  former  starts  on  foot  new 
methods,  the  latter  investigates  the  effect  of  these  methods. 
That  has  its  eyes  turned  toward  the  child,  this  directs  its  gaze 
toward  the  man.  Both  can  profitably  employ,  indeed  both 
must,  to  be  effective,  employ  some  experimentation.  Statis- 
tical investigation  may  or  may  not  be  experimental.  Methods 
of  testing  are  themselves  to  be  determined  and  justified  only  by 
experiment,  and  they  are  the  means  of  determining  the  results 
of  still  more  extensive  educational  experiments.  We  are  not 
without  examples  of  this  psychology  of  the  effects  of  training. 
The  study  by  Professors  Thorndike  and  Wood  worth,  '  The 
Influence  of  Improvement  of  One  Mental  Function  upon  the 
Efficiency  of  Other  Functions''  is  an  illustration.  Such  re- 
searches offer  evidence  that  experimental  psychology  is  not 
utterly  disconnected  with  education,  and  encourage  further 
study  along  similar  lines. 

1  Psych.  Rev.,  1901,  Vol.  VIII.,  Nos.  3,  4,  6. 


E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


PART  I.     EDUCATION   AND  THE   EXPERIMENTAL 

STUDY    OF   MEMORY. 

Any  test  of  the  result  of  school  work  is  at  bottom  a  test  of 
memory.  We  may  raise  on  our  educational  banners  the  rally- 
ing cry  'not  information  but  culture,  not  knowledge  but  power, 
but  the  culture  and  the  power  are  none  the  less  results  of  the 
activity  of  a  function  that  may  best  be  given  the  general  name, 
memory.  A  habit,  we  must  admit,  is  only  a  memory  ground  in 
so  well  that  we  can  act  effectively  without  conscious  adjustment. 

Wherein  the  information-giving  type  of  education  may  fall 
short  is,  therefore,  not  in  its  attempt  to  give  knowledge,  but  in 
its  failure  to  select  the  kind  of  knowledge  that  can  most  effec- 
tively be  stored  in  memory,  and  to  see  to  it  that  this  knowledge 
becomes  part  of  the  life  of  the  individual.  The  reforming 
maxim  that  we  should  '  learn  nothing  by  heart '  owes  what- 
ever truth  it  contains  to  its  implied  criticism  of  the  knowledge 
that  is  committed  to  memory  in  this  way.  The  great  problem 
of  education  is,  after  all,  how  most  usefully  to  store  the  memory, 
how  to  create  the  habits  of  thought  and  action  that  will  be 
most  valuable  in  future  life.  Hence  the  examination,  or  test 
of  what  is  committed  to  memory,  is  an  indispensable  part  of 
school  practice.  No  system  can  get  along  without  it.  Exam- 
inations mean  standards  :  definite,  positive  work.  To  have  no 
examinations  means  loose  work  and  uncertainty  about  results. 
The  character  of  the  examination  is  the  test  of  the  aim  and 
quality  of  the  course  of  study.  A  purely  academic  examina- 
tion is  indicative  of  a  purely  academic  course.  The  most  practi- 
cal examination  is  that  which  requires  an  application  of  the 
material  committed  to  memory.  This  sort  of  examination  is  in 
many  lines  difficult,  yet  teachers  are  coming  to  feel  that  it  is 
the  only  true  method.  It  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  grade  pupils 
by  it  as  by  answers  involving  information  in  the  specific  form 
in  which  that  information   was  given,   but,  what  is   far  more 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  7 

important,  the  examination  of  this  sort  correlates  far  more 
closely  with  that  given  by  life  itself.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  determine  the  grading  of  life  as  it  is  to  range  test 
papers  according  to  percentages. 

If  it  be  admitted  that  the  storing  of  memory  is  the  object  of 
education,  and  that  the  examination  should  exist  to  reveal  the 
results  of  the  training,  any  investigations  of  the  manner  in 
which  memory  operates  and  how  best  to  test  it  are  certainly 
important.  Teachers  have  been  working  on  these  problems  so 
long  that  a  well-criticised  and  fairly  effective  school  practice 
may  be  said  to  exist.  Yet  with  all  the  reading  of  examination 
papers  that  goes  on,  there  has  been,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  care- 
ful study  of  them  as  revelations  of  a  psychological  process. 
For  one  thing,  conditions  are  so  different  with  different  pupils 
that  the  examination  tests  rather  these  various  conditions  than 
the  fate  in  the  normal  mind  of  the  material  presented  in  a  cer- 
tain way.  Teachers  do  indeed  recognize  in  the  examination 
a  means  not  only  of  grading  the  pupils,  but  also  of  estimating 
their  own  work.  But  this  estimate  is  made  in  a  very  uncritical 
way.  The  average  of  the  marks  of  the  class  may,  it  is  true,  be 
taken  as  the  measure  of  whether  the  teacher  has  gained  her 
aim,  but  it  indicates  no  definite  relationship  between  conditions 
of  presentation  and  retention.  The  experienced  examiner  knows 
in  a  general  way  what  questions  she  may  expect  to  have  an- 
swered by  the  average  student.  But  we  may  hope,  I  take  it, 
far  more  from  investigations  conducted  under  controlled  and 
known  conditions  than  from  mere  general  experience. 

Educational  Bearing  of  Certain   Experimental  Work 

ON  Memory. 

It  has  already  been  suggested  that  here  and  there  among 
the  reports  of  psychological  experimentation  may  be  found 
material  of  interest  to  the  teacher.  This  is  possibly  even  more 
true  of  work  on  memory  than  of  that  in  any  other  field.  Some 
account  of  it  may  not  be  amiss  in  a  paper  of  this  sort.  The 
material  may  be  said  to  consist  of  two  main  kinds  :  (i)  Data 
gathered  from  experiments  with  classes  of  school  children  ;  (2) 
results  of  laboratory  experimentation  that  have  an  educational 
value. 


8  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

I.    Data   Gathered  f 7' om  Exferhnents  -with  Classes  of 

School  Children.^ 

This  material  we  may  naturally  suppose  to  be  of  especial 
interest  to  the  teacher.  The  method  of  most  of  the  experiments 
was  that  of  reading  or  exhibiting  at  a  uniform  rate  a  series  of 
numbers,  letters,  syllables,  words  or  objects,  and  asking  the 
children  to  write  out  the  series  in  the  original  order.  The  num- 
ber of  units  in  the  series  was  by  some  observers  varied,  and 
the  results  noted.  Others  contented  themselves  with  a  fixed 
number  of  units,  but  the  nature  of  the  units  in  the  series  was 
varied.  All  observers  tested  children  of  various  ages,  and 
some  contrasted  the  abilities  of  girls  and  boys.  The  results 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes :  (i)  Those  indicating  the 
growth  of  power  to  reproduce  the  series  with  increasing  age ; 
(2)  Those  indicating  the  kind  of  material  easiest  reproduced,  and 
the  methods  of  presenting  the  series  that  were  most  efficacious. 

I.  Comparing  such  of  the  data  of  different  observers  as  are 
sufficiently  similar  to  admit  of  this,  we  discover  that  they  agree 
in  finding  that  the  older  children  reproduce  the  series  better.^ 

1  The  researches  the  results  of  which  have  been  considered  in  this  review 
are  :  (i)  'The  Growth  of  Memory  in  School  Children,'  T.  L.  Bolton,  Am.  Jour- 
nal of  Psych.,  Vol.  TW  .,-p^.  362-380.  (2)  '  Memory,  an  Experimental  Study,' 
E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Psych.  Rev.,  1S94,  pp.  602-609.  (3)  '  Influence  de  I'age  sur 
la  memoire  immediate,'  B.  Bourdon,  Revue  Phil.,  No.  38,  pp.  148-167,  {4)  '  La 
m^moire  des  mots,'  A.  Binet  et  V.  Henri,  VAnnee  Psych.,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  1-23. 
Also  'La  memoire  des  phrases,'  pp.  24-59.  (s)  'Experiments  on  Memory 
Types,'  C.J.  Hawkins,  Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  289-294.  (6)  '  Ex.  Unter- 
such.  ii.  d.  Gedachtnissentwickelung  b.  Schulkindern,  A.  NetschajefF,  Ztsch. 
filr  Psych.,  Vol.  XXIV.,  pp.  321-351.  (7)  Research  with  same  title,  MarxLob- 
sien,  Ztsch.  fur  Psych.,  Vol.  XXVII.,  p.  34. 

2  The  most  evident  comparison  lies  between  the  results  of  Bolton  and  Bour- 
don, both  of  whom  read  series  of  digits  at  a  uniform  rate  to  classes,  and  asked 
for  written  reproductions.  Bolton's  scores  indicated  amounts  of  forgetting,  but 
they  can  be  converted  into  scores  of  amount  remembered,  and  in  this  form  they 
appear  in  the  following  table.  The  scores  indicate  the  average  percentage  of 
numbers  in  a  series  retained  by  children  of  a  certain  age. 

Age  of  Subjects. 


Experi- 

Nos. of 

8 

9 

10 

II 

12 

13 

14 

15 

menter. 

Digits. 

Years. 

Years. 

Years. 

Years. 

Years. 

Years. 

Years. 

Years. 

Bolton, 

6 

43-7 

54-5 

57.6 

67.6 

68. 7 

72.3 

76.5 

74-7 

Bourdon, 

6 

22 

59 

56 

61 

74 

43 

90 

47 

Bolton, 

7 

22 

35-4 

33.8 

37-5 

48.5 

50.8 

639 

59-3 

Bourdon, 

7 

0 

13 

28 

5 

37 

33 

43 

40 

Bolton, 

8 

0 

0 

0 

16 

26.3 

29-5 

34-5 

33-8 

Bourdon, 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

19 

19 

33 

20 

A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  9 

Bolton's  subjects  were  evidently  as  a  rule  brighter  than  those 
of  Bourdon.  The  latter's  scores  also  show  greater  variability, 
and  indeed  a  very  ragged  sort  of  progress.  This  is  doubtless 
due  to  the  fewness  of  his  subjects.  Bolton  had  100  children  of 
each  age.  But  it  is  by  no  means  sure  that  the  increase  of  ability 
with  age  is  due  to  growth  in  power  to  retain.  As  Professor 
Thorndike  indicates/  it  is  probably  the  result  of  a  complicated 
group  of  factors,  including  better  attentiveness,  greater  power  of 
comprehending  instructions,  etc.  The  rate  of  improvement  from 
year  to  year  cannot  be  determined  with  sufficient  definiteness  to 
be  of  any  significance.  Different  observers  report  nothing  that 
indicates  clearly  anything  but  variability  in  this  rate.  Bolton's 
experiments  with  series  of  6  digits  show  improvement  of  about 
75  per  cent,  from  8  to  14  years  of  age.  Bourdon's  show  400  per 
cent,  improvement  in  the  same  time.  Kirkpatrick,  using  series 
of  10  monosyllabic  words,  finds  an  improvement  of  about  34 
per  cent,  for  girls  and  60  per  cent,  for  boys  from  the  primary 
grades  to  the  high  school.  Lobsien,  using  series  of  9  words  of 
1,2  or  3  syllables  each,  finds  between  the  ages  of  9  and  14  an 
almost  equal  improvement  for  boys  and  nearly  80  per  cent,  for 
girls.  Kirkpatrick,  Bourdon  and  Netschajeff  unite  in  finding 
the  greatest  improvement  somewhere  between  the  ages  of  8  and 
14,  but  Binet,  using  series  of  5  to  7  monosyllables,  finds  almost 
no  improvement  between  7  and  13.  This  is  all  the  more  strik- 
ing, inasmuch  as  he  used  series  of  the  same  length  as  those  of 
Bourdon.  With  many  of  his  series  Bourdon  reports  the  best 
reproductions  from  children  of  14,  the  older  subjects  proving  no 
better,  if  not  actually  worse.  Netschajeff  seems  to  corroborate 
this  notion.  It  is  possible  that  these  older  pupils  were  lackadais- 
ical in  the  experiment.  Kirkpatrick  finds  improvement  between 
the  high  school  and  college,  but  the  college  students  tested  were 
doubtless  on  the  average  of  higher  ability  than  the  younger  sub- 
jects. In  general  I  think  we  may  say  that  the  experiments 
show  the  most  rapid  improvement  in  power  of  reproduction  of 
series  before  the  age  of  14.  After  that,  if  there  is  any  advance, 
it  is  slight. 

As  regards  the  relation  between  girls  and  boys,  we  may 

1 '  Notes  on  Child  Study,'  p.  78. 


lO  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

conclude  that  younger  girls  do  better  than  boys  of  the  same  age. 
Whether  this  advantage  is  overcome  after  adolescence,  we  cannot 
tell.  The  testimony  of  Lobsien  and  Netschajeff  shows  no  such 
change  in  the  superiority  of  the  girls,  while  that  of  Kirkpatrick 
indicates  a  reversal  of  the  earlier  relationship. 

2.  Passing  to  the  question  of  the  relative  ease  of  reproducing 
different  classes  of  material,  we  find  similar  contradictions  and 
variations.  Netschajeff  finds  number  series  the  hardest  of  eight 
types  of  series  to  reproduce.  Lobsien  finds  them  easier  than  any 
other  of  the  same  types  except  those  made  up  of  objects  seen.^ 
Kirkpatrick  finds  series  of  shown  words  in  general  easier 
to  reproduce  than  series  of  spoken  words.  Hawkins  reverses 
this  relation.^  Certain  points  of  agreement  come  out  promi- 
nently, however.  A  series  of  objects  seen  is  invariably  reported 
as  remembered  better  than  a  series  of  words.  In  Kirkpatrick's 
experiment  series  of  objects  were  best  retained ;  words  pre- 
sented to  the  eye  were  next  in  the  order  of  ease  of  reproduction. 
Three  days  after  his  original  experiment,  he  asked  for  a  second 
reproduction.  The  number  of  objects  remembered  was  three 
times  as  great  as  that  of  the  words  in  the  visually  presented 
series.  It  is  not  strange  that  we  remember  the  objects  that  we 
see  about  us  better  than  what  we  read.  Yet  Kirkpatrick's  ex- 
periment must  be  granted  to  be  striking,  and  not  without  its 
lesson.  The  difficulty  in  remembering  abstract  words,  that 
both  Netschajeff  and  Lobsien  found,  is  to  be  expected,  and 
when  one  see  Lobsien's  lists,  one  wonders  whether  the  children 
were  philosophers  enough  to  understand  many  of  them. 

^The  nature  of  the  series  used  by  these  experimenters  is  indicated  by  the 
following  list.     The  order  is  that  of  ease  in  reproduction. 

Netschajeff.  Lobsien. 

1.  Objects.  I.  Objects. 

2.  Words  indicating  things  seen.  2.  Numbers. 

3.  Sounds.  3.  Words  indicating  things  seen. 

4.  Words  indicating  sounds.  4.  Words  indicating  tastes. 

5.  Words  indicating  tastes.  5.  Sounds. 

6.  Abstract  words.  6.  Words  indicating  sounds. 

7.  Words  indicating  feelings.  7.  Words  indicating  feelings. 

8.  Numbers.  8.  Abstract  words. 

'^  Kirkpatrick  is  probably  nearer  the  general  fact  here,  as  his  results  are  cor- 
roborated for  adults  (see  p.  17). 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  II 

It  is  also  noticeable  that  younger  children  find  series  of  more 
than  eight  quite  difficult  to  manage,  indicating  either  a  feebler 
immediate  memory,  or,  what  is  more  likely,  less  power  of  in- 
tense concentration  of  attention  than  they  come  to  possess  later. 
Hawkins  made  the  interesting  observation  that  with  younger 
pupils  a  series  of  fifteen  words  could  better  be  reproduced  if  the 
words  were  shown  successively,  one  every  2  seconds,  than  if 
they  were  all  given  at  once,  and  the  subject  allowed  30  seconds 
to  look  them  over.  With  older  pupils  this  difference  disap- 
peared. One  is  tempted  to  think,  however,  that  the  explana- 
tion offered  by  Hawkins,  /.  e.,  that  the  span  of  immediate  mem- 
ory grows  greater,  may  not  be  the  entire  account  of  the  matter. 
Probably  improved  methods  of  committing  to  memory  causes 
the  older  students  to  waste  less  time  in  learning  the  series  shown 
simultaneously. 

Netschajeff  found  that  in  general  those  who  from  indepen- 
dent evidence  were  found  to  be  of  the  visual  type  had  better 
memories  than  those  of  the  motor  or  acoustic  types.  He  thinks, 
however,  that  the  motor  element  entered  into  the  efforts  of  most 
subjects  to  commit  to  memory  words  shown,  so  that  those  with 
good  visual  memories  really  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  motor 
memories  reinforced  by  those  of  sight. 

Several  studies  have  been  made  on  the  power  of  children  to 
reproduce  sentences  or  stories.^  The  only  conclusions  of  impor- 
tance refer  to  the  growth  with  age  of  ability  to  recount  the 
matter  dictated.  Experiments  made  by  Lay  ^  indicate  that  with 
college  students  a  passage  containing  abstract  material  is  much 
more  difficult  to  retain  than  a  concrete  one. 

2.    Results  0/  Laboratory  Experimentation. 

When  we  pass  to  the  material  offered  by  researches  in  the 
experimental  laboratories  to  the  study  of  educational  problems, 
we  find  that  the  contributions  may  be  classified  under  the  fol- 
lowing heads  :  (i)  Conditions  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  com- 
mitting to  memory ;  (2)  the  nature  of  the  memory  image  as 
compared  with  the  original  experience. 

1  Binet  (see  reference,  p.  8) ;  Shaw,  '  A  Test  of  Memory  in  School  Children,' 
Ped.  Sent.,  1S96-97,  pp.  60-78. 

2L,ay,  'Mental  Imagery,'  Psych.  Rbv.,  Monograph  Supplement,  No.  17. 


12  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

I.  The  ordinary  way  of  fixing  a  thing  in  mind  is  by 
repetition.  Practice  creates  habits.  But  laboratory  researches 
have  established  some  interesting  things  about  the  effect  of 
repetition  and  the  method  thereof.  To  the  teacher  it  might  be 
worth  while  to  know  these.  Ebbinghaus/  probably  the  earliest 
systematic  experimenter  in  these  fields,  committed  to  memory 
series  of  nonsense  syllables  by  repeating  them.  The  difficulty 
of  learning  was  estimated  by  the  number  of  repetitions  required. 
The  rate  of  forgetting  was  also  tested.  He  found  that  after  a 
series  was  learned  further  repetitions  fixed  it  better  in  memory. 
There  would  seem,  however,  to  be  a  limit  to  this  effect.  Bair, 
who  investigated  carefully  the  results  of  practice,^  concludes 
that  after  a  certain  time  a  physiological  limit  is  reached,  beyond 
which  further  practice  does  not  increase  either  speed  or 
accuracy — although  it  keeps  the  power  at  its  climax.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  mere  ability  to  go  over  a  series  accu- 
rately does  not  mark  the  attainment  of  the  highest  excellence 
of  which  memory  is  capable.  Such  a  limit  may  be  conceived 
to  be  either  the  greatest  speed  in  repetition  or  the  longest  reten- 
tion in  memory.  Moreover,  it  is  likely  that  practice  after  the 
highest  speed  is  attained  will  not  be  utterly  useless  in  causing 
longer  retention  of  the  series.  Again,  we  ought  to  notice  that 
memorizing  a  series  of  nonsense  syllables  is  very  likely  largely 
a  matter  of  motor  associations,  and  so  approximates  closely 
to  learning  a  motor  habit.  May  not  the  same  thing  be  said  of 
nearly  all  the  exercises  that  come  under  the  head  of  learning 
by  heart?  They  are  as  mechanical  as  learning  to  walk. 
Spelling  and  multiplication  are  gymnastic  exercises.  It  is  of 
great  importance  to  know  when  repetition  has  done  its  work 
and  drill  may  stop.  Further,  Bryan  and  Harter,'  in  their  study 
on  learning  telegraphy,  found  that  after  the  limit  of  improve- 
ment seemed  to  have  been  reached,  and  progress  had  for  a 
long  time  ceased,  certain  operators  enter  upon  a  second  stage 
of  growth,  and  struggle  toward  a  new  '  physiological  limit.' 
Here  we  have  an  illustration  of  a  common  phenomenon  in  the 

1  'Ueber  das  Gediichtniss,'  Leipzig,  18S5. 

2 'The  Practice  Curve,'  Psych.  Rkv.,  Monograph  Supplement,  No.  19. 

'Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  27,  and  Vol.  VI.,  p.  345. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  1 3 

class  room.  Certain  pupils  seem  to  stop  for  awhile,  develop- 
ment is  '  arrested '  as  it  were.  But  the  experienced  teacher 
knows  that  this  is  often  not  the  end,  and  awaits  patiently  the 
renascence  of  capacity  for  growth.  How  best  to  fill  in  such  an 
interval,  or  to  initiate  the  new  era?  These  are  problems  for  the 
educational  psychologist. 

The  effectiveness  of  learning  depends  not  alone  on  mere 
number  of  repetitions,  but  also  on  the  way  in  which  these  are 
distributed.  "^  It  is  a  common  opinion  that  little  or  no  gain  comes 
from  practice  after  fatigue  sets  in.  '  Whatever  can  be  said  of 
this,^  both  Ebbinghaus  and  Jost^  agree  that  it  is  better  to  have 
the  repetitions  scattered  over  considerable  time,  rather  than  con- 
centrated within  a  short  period.  Jost  found  that  a  series  of 
twelve  syllables  was  better  learned  if  repeated  ten  times  a  day 
for  three  days  than  if  repeated  thirty  times  in  one  day.  Ebbing- 
haus indicated  that  there  are  limits  to  the  extent  of  scattering  that 
is  desirable.  Here  we  have  the  problem  involved  in  the  division 
of  time  in  the  school  program.  Teachers  know  that  they  get 
better  results  by  having  frequent  short  drills  than  by  lengthen- 
ing the  periods  and  increasing  the  intervals  between  them. 
They  must  be  glad  to  find  their  general  idea  corroborated  by 
the  psychologist,  but  they  have  yet  to  learn  by  experimental 
evidence  the  distribution  of  time  that  will  be  most  suitable  in 
various  cases. 

In  regard  to  the  length  of  the  series  which  can  best  be 
grappled  with  as  a  unit  of  work,  the  experimenters  come  a  little 
nearer  giving  practical  information.  With  nonsense  syllables  a 
single  repetition  was  found  by  Ebbinghaus  to  suffice  for  the 
learning  of  seven  syllables.  As  the  number  of  syllables  was 
increased,  the  number  of  repetitions  required  to  learn  the  series 
increased,  at  first  very  rapidly,  then  more  slowly.  These 
longer  series  committed  by  a  greater  number  of  repetitions  were, 
I  conjecture,  retained  better  than  the  shorter  series  learned  more 
easily.  Most  school  work  where  mechanical  memory  alone  is 
involved  does  not  require  the  serial  learning  of  more  new  units 
than  can  be  grappled  in  a  single  act  of  thought.     Hence  the 

,    iSee  'Mental  Fatigue,'  g.  L.  Thorndike,  Psych.  Rev.,  Nov.,  1900. 
^Ztsch.  f.  Psych. ^  1897,  pp.  436-472. 


H  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

repetitions  are  to  fix  in  memory  rather  than  to  enable  a  bare 
reproduction.  Longer  series  enter  in  where  the  units  are  con- 
nected because  they  belong  to  a  common  topic,  as  in  the  case  of 
sentences,  of  passages,  etc.  Miss  Steffens  ^  contributes  some 
information  in  regard  to  the  length  of  the  unit  that  can  be  most 
effectively  used  in  learning  such  material.  She  found  that  if, 
instead  of  learning  certain  stanzas  of  '  Childe  Harold '  verse  by 
verse,  as  her  subjects  were  inclined  to  do,  each  stanza  was  read 
repeatedly  as  a  whole,  fewer  repetitions  were  necessary,  and 
the  time  of  memorizing  was  reduced.  She  also  found  the  same 
to  be  true  of  longer  series  of  nonsense  syllables.  Doubtless, 
the  reason  why  we  prefer  to  take  the  shorter  section  is  because 
our  progress  is  then  more  evident.  On  the  other  hand,  most  of 
us  have  suddenly  realized  that  we  knew  passages  of  consider- 
able length  when  we  have  made  no  effort  to  commit  them  piece- 
meal, but  have  read  or  heard  them  a  number  of  times.  We 
may  well  suppose  that  we  waste  much  time  in  learning  by  short 
sections.  But  where  a  thing  is  to  be  learned  by  heart,  doubtless 
the  sections  might  also  be  too  long.  The  psychologists  here 
give  us  a  valuable  suggestion,  but  not  a  definite  rule. 

When  we  contrast  the  effect  of  repetition  upon  memory  with 
that  of  vividness,  we  are  at  once  confronted  with  the  difficulty 
of  generalizing  in  regard  to  the  latter.  The  lack  of  any  stand- 
ard to  which  we  can  refer  various  kinds  of  vivid  stimuli  make 
such  experiments  as  those  of  Miss  Calkins^  inadequate  to  the 
formulation  of  any  general  law.  By  associating  numerals  in 
pairs  she  ascertained  that  a  number  would  recall  one  occurring 
with  it  several  times  better  than  one  paired  with  it  only  once  but 
printed  in  a  striking  color.  Moreover,  the  number  was  less  apt 
to  call  up  a  recent  associate  with  which  it  had  been  paired  but 
once,  than  a  vivid  or  a  frequent  one.  The  teacher  may  con- 
clude that  undesirable  but  strong  associations  may  be  overcome 
by  constantly  repeating  others.  This,  however,  is  one  of  the 
commonest  methods  in  education,  and  Miss  Calkins'  experi- 
ments do  not  indicate  any  definite  way  of  determining  degrees 
of  vividness  in  such  a  way  that  we  can  establish  for  any  case 

^  Ztsch.  f.  Psych.  ^  1900,  pp.  321-380. 

*  Psych.  Rev.  Monograph  Supplement,  No.  2. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  15 

how  much  repetition  will  overcome  a  given  vivid  association. 
It  may  be  that  such  a  law  is  unattainable. 

The  effect  of  rhythm  on  the  ease  with  which  we  can  commit 
series  of  nonsense  syllables  was  elaborately  investigated  by 
Miiller  and  Schumann.^  That  rhythm  makes  memorizing 
easier  is  a  commonplace  truth,  but  the  specific  value  of  differ- 
ent classes  of  rhythm  for  this  purpose  had  never  been  investi- 
gated. I  do  not  see,  however,  that  Miiller  and  Schumann  have 
given  teachers  any  news  that  it  is  important  for  them  to  learn. 
The  study  of  the  relation  between  the  motor  adjustment  and  the 
memory  of  series  is  more  significant  educationally.  Strieker's 
well-known  experiment,  of  trying  to  think  the  sound  '  bubble ' 
with  the  mouth  open,  brings  out  clearly  the  extent  to  which 
motor  elements  enter  into  our  acoustic  memories.  Cohn^  in- 
vestigated the  effect  of  pronunciation  on  memorizing  series. 
Certain  series  were  shown  to  the  learner,  and  also  pronounced 
by  him.  Others  were  shown,  but  all  articulation  by  the  learner 
was  inhibited.  In  still  other  cases  the  subject  pronounced  some 
other  sound  or  counted  as  the  letters  were  being  read.  Those 
who  seemed  to  be  of  the  visualizing  type  were  not  bothered 
much  by  not  articulating  the  letters  nor  by  counting.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  were  of  the  acoustic-motor  type  were 
seriously  hampered  by  the  lack  of  acoustic-motor  associations 
or  by  the  presence  of  interfering  ones.  Smith, ^  whose  experi- 
ments antedate  those  of  Cohn,  found  that  with  all  his  subjects 
counting  increased  the  number  of  errors  in  committing  to  mem- 
ory a  shown  series.  He  also  found  that  the  characters  of  the 
deaf  and  dumb  alphabet  could  be  learned  easier  if  they  were 
made  by  the  hands  as  they  were  being  observed. 

The  importance  of  the  motor  element  in  committing  to  mem- 
ory is  emphasized  especially  by  Bair,^  who  experimented  on  the 
effect  of  breaking  the  sensory-motor  associations  involved  in  a 
habit,  as  compared  with  breaking  the  order  of  the  sensory  im- 
pressions.    His  subjects  learned  to  write  with  rapidity  a  series 

^  Ztsch.f.  Psych.,  Vol.  VI.,  pp.  81-190  and  pp.  257-339. 

"^Ztsch./.  Psych.,  Vol.  XV.,  pp.  161-183. 

^  Am.  Journal  of  Psych.,  1896,  pp.  453-490. 

*  Psych.  Rev.,  Monograph  Supplement,  No.  19. 


l6  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

of  letters  on  a  typewriter.  Then  the  keys  were  capped  so  as 
to  change  the  arrangement  of  the  letters  thereon.  This  was 
found  to  retard  more  the  writing  of  a  learned  series  than  the 
change  of  the  order  of  the  letters  in  the  series  without  modify- 
ing the  lettering  of  the  keys.  It  follows,  Bair  concludes,  that 
the  association  between  a  sense  impression  and  the  motor  re- 
sponse to  it  is  in  the  case  of  such  habits  the  hardest  association 
to  break.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  a  new  associa- 
tion of  the  sort  is  hard  to  form.  I  have  already  noted  that  all 
learning  by  heart  at  school  is  nothing  more  than  a  gymnastic 
drill.  As  James  indicates,^  the  association  in  such  cases  is  from 
sensory  stimulus  to  motor  response,  the  feeling  of  which  consti- 
tutes the  stimulus  for  the  next  response.  Frequently  we  find  it 
hard  to  anticipate  the  next  sensory  element  without  going 
through  the  motions  that  precede  it.  In  such  cases  the  associa- 
tion between  sensory  elements  is  comparatively  weak.  There 
is,  however,  a  sensory  element  here  that  such  analysis  neglects. 
In  spelling  village  for  example,  the  thought  of  the  word  as  a 
whole,  possibly  also  of  the  object,  enters  in  to  determine  the 
series  of  letters  reproduced.  The  letters  v-i-l-l-a  might  as 
easily  lead  on  to  i-n  as  to  g-e.  What  prevents  this  is  the  total 
idea  in  the  mind.  But  while  the  process  of  spelling  is  going 
on  the  motor  feelings  constitute  the  cues  by  which  the  succes- 
sion of  letters  is  controlled.  The  general  thought  '  spelling 
village '  plus  the  feeling  that  we  have  pronounced  a  suffices 
to  stimulate  the  pronunciation  of  g  before  we  have  thought  of 
it.  The  ordinary  stock  association  is  between  thinking  a  and 
then  pronouncing  it.  In  this  case  the  feeling  of  having  pro- 
nounced a  leads  to  the  pronunciation  of  g.  That  this  should 
happen  is  due  to  the  general  thought  in  the  mind.  At  this 
point  it  may  be  worth  while  to  suggest  that  the  change  in  the 
order  of  the  letters  in  Bair's  experiment  may  have  destroyed  not 
so  much  the  sensory  associations  between  the  letters  as  the  sen- 
sory-motor association  between  the  feeling  of  having  struck  one 
key  and  the  motor  impulse  to  strike  the  next.  If  this  is  the 
case,  he  simply  compared  the  strength  of  two  sensory-motor 
associations.  At  any  rate,  we  may  be  fairly  sure  that  sensory- 
1 'Psych.,'  Vol.  I.,  p.   ii6. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  1 7 

motor  associations  play  the  most  important  part  in  all  thor- 
oughly learned  series  that  we  are  taught  in  the  schools,  and  we 
are  also  comparatively  sure  that  it  would  be  harder  for  us  to 
pronounce  the  symbol  a  as  we  now  3o  za  than  to  learn  to  spell 
sate/  after  we  had  spent  some  time  in  putting  these  letters  into 
TV  as. 

In  leaving  the  subject  of  the  importance  of  the  motor  asso- 
ciations in  committing  to  memory,  I  wish  to  emphasize  the 
thought  that  in  the  learning  of  serie§  they  are  especially  effect- 
ive. If  one  tries  to  recall  the  episodes  of  a  story,  he  will  find, 
I  think,  that  the  points  come  out  much  more  clearly  and  effect- 
ively if  he  iel/s  the7n  instead  of  merely  imagining  them.  Where 
thought  works  out  into  movement  we  find  it  easiCT  to  travel 
straight  on  toward  our  goal,  whereas  unexpressed  imaginations 
do  not  lead  on  so  decisively,  but  waver  to  and  fro.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  expression  is  indispensable  to  learning  most 
things  in  the  school  room,  and  that  memories  thus  reinforced 
are  far  more  effective  than  those  of  experiences  in  which  the 
pupils  have  merely  assumed  passive  attitudes.  But  while  ex- 
pression is  probably  from  the  educational  point  of  view  the  most 
valuable  aid  to  memory,  it  is  well  to  note  that  material  furnished 
to  both  eye  and  ear  is  better  retained  than  that  presented  to 
either  alone.  This  fact  was  established  by  Miinsterberg  and 
Bigham.^  They  also  found  that  in  general  visually  presented 
series  were  better  remembered  than  aurally  presented  ones,  a 
conclusion  that  was  verified  by  Miss  Calkins. 

There  remains  to  chronicle  the  experiments  that  have  been 
performed  testing  the  effect  on  learning  and  remembering  of 
various  sorts  of  distraction  and  the  extent  to  which  certain  habits 
interfere  with  others.  W.  G.  Smith  ^  performed  experiments 
similar  to  those  of  Cohn  and  T.  L.  Smith  already  reported,  ex- 
cept that  his  purpose  was  not  so  much  to  segregate  the  effect  of 
the  muscular  responses  in  memorizing,  as  to  estimate  the  effects 
of  various  sorts  of  distraction.  His  results  can  scarcely  be 
generalized  to  advantage,  but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  he 
found  the  learning  of  twelve  syllables  to  be  interfered  with  less 

'  Psych.  Rev.,  1894,  pp.  34-38. 

^Mind  (New  Series),  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  47-73. 


1 8  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

by  carrying  on  addition  at  the  same  time  than  by  repeating  the 
sound  la  to  the  beat  of  a  metronome.  The  addition,  though 
complicated,  was  so  well  drilled  that  it  required  less  thought 
than  the  much  simpler  exercise.  However,  it  must  be  noted 
that  to  keep  time  required  sensory  attention,  and  thus  interfered 
with  the  sensory  attention  to  the  syllables.  We  can  think  about 
one  thing  and  do  another  more  easily  than  we  can  think  about 
two  things  at  once.  This  information  will  probably  not  surprise 
the  experienced  teacher. 

In  regard  to  the  effect  on  our  powers  of  recall  of  distracting 
conditions  in  the  interval  between  memorizing  and  recall.  Big- 
ham^  has^ade  some  interesting  contributions.  He  found  that 
the  memWy  was  in  general  affected  more  by  acoustical  distur- 
bances than  by  optical  ones  ;  also  that  if  what  was  to  be  retained 
consisted  of  visual  images,  optical  disturbances  affected  it  more, 
but  acoustical  disturbances  were  found  to  be  especially  destruc- 
tive to  auditory  memories.  Teachers  generally  have  commented 
on  the  disturbing  effect  of  noises.  Possibly  a  m(>re  valuable 
reflection  that  the  study  of  distraction  suggests  concerns  the  ex- 
tent to  which  different  functions  act  independently.  The  con- 
ception of  the  mind  as  consisting  of  a  great  number  of  com- 
paratively independent  aptitudes  rather  than  of  a  few  general 
powers  is  a  still  further  amplification  of  this  thought,  and  ex- 
periments on  the  effect  of  a  habit  upon  the  power  to  learn  one 
that  is  apparently  antagonistic  tend  to  justify  the  notion.  Berg- 
strom^  found  that  if  a  pack  of  cards  were  sorted  with  piles 
placed  in  certain  positions,  this  interfered  with  the  natural  ease 
of  sorting  them  into  piles  differently  placed.  Miinsterberg,^ 
however,  maintains  that  apparently  contradictory  habits  do  not 
destroy  each  other,  but  that  each  can  subsist  beside  the  other, 
and  be  called  forth  on  occasion.  At  first  it  is  hard  to  create  the 
new  habit,  but  once  formed  it  is  easy  to  shift  back  and  forth 
from  the  one  to  the  other.  Bair  corroborates  this  view  of 
Miinsterberg,  both  from  experiments  on  the  typewriter,  and  by 
repeating  Bergstrom's  experiments  with  a  view  toward  finding 

1  Psych.  Rev.,  1894,  pp.  453-461. 

"^  Am.  Journal  of  Psych.,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  438. 

3  'Gedachtnisstudien.  Beitrage  zur  experimentellen  Psychologic,'  Heft  4. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  19 

whether  the  initial  interference  due  to  the  readjustment  neces- 
sary in  forming  a  new  habit  would  persist  after  both  habits 
might  be  said  to  be  formed.  He  found  that  practice  constantly- 
reduced  the  interference  of  shifting. 

2.  On  the  subject  of  the  quality  of  the  memory  image  as 
related  to  the  original  experience,  what  seems  to  me  the  most 
suggestive  contribution  that  laboratory  psychology  has  to  give 
is  that  our  memories  represent,  as  it  were,  a  sort  of  generalized 
experience.  They  are  modified  in  the  direction  of  a  standard 
value.  Leuba  ^  suggests  such  a  transformation.  Philippe^ 
noted  the  loss  of  particular  factors  in  the  memory  images  of 
certain  objects,  as  a  statue  of  Venus,  a  bangle,  a  cigarette,  etc. 
Bentley,^  experimenting  with  colors,  discovered  that  the 
memory  image  was  as  a  rule  darker,  but  when  the  subject  was 
in  the  light  it  seemed  lighter.  Warren  and  Shaw*  noticed  that 
in  selecting  by  memory  a  square  of  a  certain  size  from  a 
number  of  squares  of  different  sizes  a  tendency  to  choose 
from  near  the  center  of  the  list  was  observable.  Xilliez^  ob- 
served that  in  endeavoring  to  repeat  a  series  of  numbers 
just  heard  there  was  a  tendency  to  make  the  intervals  be- 
tween their  values  smaller.  These  are  typical  of  that  regress 
toward  a  general  washed-out  image  which  plays  so  important  a 
part  in  discussions  of  the  general  idea.  The  nature  of  the 
images  we  retain  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of  first  importance  to 
the  teacher.  Experimental  psychology,  however,  has  not  con- 
tributed anything  more  definite  to  increase  the  knowledge  of 
teachers  regarding  the  fate  of  the  ideas  they  so  sedulously  im- 
plant in  the  minds  of  their  pupils. 

Summary  of  Results. 

What  then  are  the  results  of  experimental  researches  on 
memory  that  may  be  applied  to  education?  We  have  learned 
that  children  grow  in  power  to  reproduce  series,  and  that  this 
growth  is  most  rapid  before  fourteen.     This  increased  power  is 

'^  Ant.  Journal  of  Psych.,  Vol.  V.,  pp.  370-384. 

^ Revue  Philos.,  Vol.  XVI.,  pp.  508-524  ;  Vol.  XVIIL,  pp.  481-493. 

^  Am.  Journal  of  Psych.,  1899,  pp.  1-4S. 

*  Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  239-244. 

^  L' Annie  Psych.,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  193-200. 


20  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

due  to  greater  ability  to  memorize,  which  in  turn  is  due  either 
to  increased  power  of  concentration,  to  greater  knowledge,  or 
to  greater  natural  retentiveness.  We  have  learned  that  boys 
before  adolescence,  and  probably  for  several  years  after,  do 
worse  at  such  reproductions  than  girls  of  the  same  age  ;  and 
that  later  on  they  probably  catch  up.  We  have  been  told  that 
children  remember  series  of  objects  far  better  than  series  of 
words,  and  that  words  indicating  abstractions  are  very  poorly 
retained.  We  know  that  after  a  thing  is  learned  by  heart 
further  effort  may  strengthen  our  grip  on  it,  though  we  do  not 
know  any  way  to  determine  practically  the  point  at  which  such 
effort  ceases  to  avail.  We  know  that  a  certain  effort  expended 
at  intervcHs  over  considerable  time  is  likely  to  produce  better 
results  than  if  it  were  continuous,  but  we  do  not  know  the  limits 
of  effective  scattering,  nor  whether  the  principle  applies  to 
anything  save  to  learning  by  heart.  We  have  found  that 
larger  units  can  frequently  be  memorized  as  wholes  with 
greater  economy  of  time  than  if  we  learned  them  in  sections, 
but  we  do  not  know  the  size  of  the  unit  most  favorable,  nor 
have  we  any  rule  that  can  be  applied  to  different  classes  of 
material.  Repetition  we  have  found  to  fix  associations  better 
than  a  certain  kind  of  vividness.  The  principle  is,  however, 
so  indefinite  as  to  have  little  practical  value,  save  that  it  may 
encourage  us  to  repeated  efforts  to  eliminate  by  repetition  un- 
desirable associations.  We  can  be  sure  that  rhythm  helps  to 
memorize,  that  expression  is  of  enormous  assistance,  that  two 
senses  working  together  fix  a  series  of  ideas  better  than  one, 
that  apparently  contradictory  habits  can  exist  side  by  side,  and 
that  disturbing  sounds  are  especially  destructive  to  memories 
of  what  has  been  learned,  although  sight  memories  are  particu- 
larly affected  by  ocular  distractions.  Doubtless  this  is  not  all 
that  experimental  research  on  memory  has  to  yield  to  educa- 
tion.    But  it  represents  about  all.     What  can  be  said  of  it? 

In  the  first  place  most  teachers  will  say  that  they  knew  all 
that  before.  So  they  did  —  in  a  general  way.  Nevertheless, 
it  may  be  agreed  that  the  facts  gain  clearness  and  emphasis  by 
being  shown  by  experimental  methods,  not  to  speak  of  the  ad- 
vantage of  having  opinions  converted  into  certainties.     Again, 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  21 

the  criticism  will  be  made  that  the  facts  thus  derived  are  proved 
for  special  cases,  and  that  no  general  rule  such  as  can  be  ap- 
plied in  teaching  is  to  be  drawn  from  them.  This  is  doubtless 
a  serious  criticism.  Moreover,  even  if  general  principles  could 
be  drawn  from  the  experiments,  they  would  have  to  be  modified 
to  apply  to  special  educational  questions.  The  art  of  teaching, 
it  may  be  urged,  is  one  of  continuous  adjustment  to  special  sit- 
uations. Not  so  much  general  psychological  principles  as  spe- 
cial applications  of  these,  such  as  experience  alone  can  make,  is 
what  is  desirable.  Nor  is  this  criticism  to  be  dismissed  as  the 
protest  of  a  mere  rule-of-thumb  artisan.  What  we  need  is  ex- 
periment directed  toward  express  educational  problems.  Such 
work,  doubtless,  will  derive  general  principles  rather  than  spe- 
cial rules,  but  they  will  be  principles  directly  applicable  to  edu- 
cation, because  derived  from  a  consideration  of  the  school  en- 
vironment. They  doubtless  will  not  attain  such  accuracy  as 
that  afforded  by  laboratory  research.  However,  numbers  and 
statistical  methods  will  compensate  for  this.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  teacher,  fully  conscious  that  each  subject,  each  les- 
son, each  pupil,  constitutes  an  individual  problem,  ought  not  to 
forget  the  value  of  a  broad  generalization  summing  up  experi- 
ence in  the  large.  Principles  prevent  experience  from  crystal- 
lizing into  poverty-stricken  methods  that  appeal  to  their  users, 
not  so  much  from  their  educational  efficiency  as  because  these 
people  are  accustomed  to  them.  Therefore,  let  us  have  prin- 
ciples, not  to  supplement  experience,  but  to  enable  us  to 
master  it.  * 

Herein  we  discern  the  peculiar  value  that  a  study  of  what 
experimental  psychology  has  done  may  have  to  school  men.  It 
has  given  us  principles  to  guide  further  research.  While  it  may 
not  contribute  in  the  most  direct  and  manifest  manner  to  educa- 
tional practice,  its  methods  and  its  results  furnish  the  basis  on 
which  we  must  proceed.  The  experimentalist  is  at  present  en- 
gaged in  clearing  our  farm.  Some  small  patches  he  has  culti- 
vated, and  reaped  therefrom  a  scanty  harvest,  but  for  the  most 
part  his  task  has  been  to  remove  forests,  underbrush  and  rocks, 
and  to  make  possible  the  productive  tasks.  We  must  know  his 
work  in  order  not  to  duplicate  both  his  failures  and  successes. 


22  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

when  we  experiment  on  educational  problems.  His  work  has 
been  as  a  rule  minutely  critical,  but  it  has  concerned  very 
simple  and  abstract  matters.  We  need  researches  that  will 
reach  into  the  concrete  work  of  the  school  and  test  its  results. 

One  striking  contrast  is  noticeable  between  the  material 
used  in  most  of  the  experimental  work  on  memory  that  has 
been  reviewed  and  the  kind  of  memory  work  done  in  the 
school  room.  The  former  is  largely  concerned  with  power  to 
retain  unconnected,  often  meaningless  series,  whereas  the  school 
very  rarely  asks  for  work  depending  on  this  power  alone.  The 
experiments,  therefore,  bear  on  the  most  mechanical  tasks  of 
the  pupil.  But  a  more  important  kind  of  experiment  would 
concern  itself  with  memory  for  connected  thought.  Even 
spelling  is  a  rational  process.  The  letters  make  a  whole  by 
the  character  of  which  they  are  to  a  great  extent  determined. 
What  interests  the  teacher  is  not  so  much  the  absolute  strength 
of  the  most  wooden  sort  of  memory,  but  the  methods  of  associ- 
ation by  which  the  memory  is  stocked  most  richly  and  effect- 
ively. To  ascertain  these,  and  also  what  becomes  of  the  asso- 
ciation groups  with  the  lapse  of  time,  may  well  furnish  abundant 
opportunity  for  research. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  physiological  and  psychological  proc- 
esses involved  in  the  remembering  of  a  connected  train  of 
thought  are  probably  far  different  from  what  we  have  in  the  case 
of  a  mere  mechanical  habit.  The  link  of  the  common  theme 
greatly  increases  the  number  of  units  that  can  be  retained. 
Binet  and  V.  Henri  ^  found  that  by  the  use  of  a  mn^onic  de- 
vice the  number  of  digits  that  can  be  recalled  on  a  single  read- 
ing may  be  raised  from  eight  to  thirty-six.  They  also  noted  ^ 
a  far  smaller  amount  of  forgetting  in  phrases  than  in  series 
containing  the  same  number  of  disconnected  words.  I  per- 
formed a  rough  experiment  as  follows.  I  took  from  a  popular 
novel  sentences  of  twenty  words  each;  e.  g.^  "  A  sprinkle  of 
blood,  occasionally  quite  a  dash  of  it,  reddened  the  leaves  and 
tufts  of  grass  along  his  pathway."  From  similar  sentences  I 
selected  phrases  having  four  words  each,  and  putting  five  of 

^  Revue  Philos.,  No.  37,  pp.  11 4-1 19. 
^L^ Annie  Psych.,  No.  I.,  pp.  1-59. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  23 

these  together  made  series  of  twenty  words  each  ;  e.  g.,  "  Into 
their  selfish  dreams  —  like  an  eagle  dancing  —  something  im- 
portant for  him  —  forethought,  zeal,  and  preparation  —  his  fid- 
dle and  bow."  Again,  taking  several  of  the  sentences  I  ar- 
ranged the  words  in  as  many  series  of  twenty  words  each,  the 
combinations  making  no  sense  either  as  a  whole  or  in  phrases. 
I  read  these  various  series  at  a  uniform  rate  and  in  a  monotone, 
and  then  asked  the  listening  students  to  write  down  the  words 
they  remembered  in  as  near  the  original  order  as  possible. 
Several  readings  of  each  series  were  given.  One  student  in- 
variably got  the  sentences  perfectly  in  two  readings,  sometimes  in 
one.  The  series  of  phrases  took  him  always  two  and  sometimes 
three  readings,  while  the  series  of  disconnected  words  took 
from  four  to  six  readings,  to  learn.  The  difference  was  equally 
manifest  when  we  compare  the  reproductions  after  a  single  read- 
ing. The  words  in  the  sentences  were  recalled  with  from  no 
omissions  to  at  most  five ;  those  in  the  series  of  phrases  with 
from  five  to  ten  omissions  ;  while  there  was  an  average  of  eight 
omissions  in  the  case  of  the  disconnected  words.  A  second 
student  required  from  two  to  four  readings  in  order  to  get  the  sen- 
tences, from  three  to  five  to  get  the  phrases,  and  from  six  to 
eleven  to  get  the  series  of  disconnected  words.  A  third  student 
made  on  a  single  reading  one  slight  error  in  reproducing  the 
sentence,  omitted  seven  words  from  the  phrase  series,  and  eight 
from  the  series  of  disconnected  words.  The  latter  series  re- 
quired of  him  three  readings,  while  the  other  two  were  per- 
fected on  the  second  trial. 

The  results  of  this  experiment  are  such  as  we  might  cer- 
tainly expect,  but  the  consideration  of  the  difference  in  the 
mental  conditions  involved  reveals  the  difference  between  school 
memorizing  and  that  which  we  have  reviewed.  In  recalling 
the  sentence  the  idea  of  the  meaning  is  dominant.  In  the  one 
quoted  the  general  picture  of  a  bleeding  man  traversing  a  path- 
way suggests  the  cue,  '  a  sprinkle  of  blood,'  and  each  succeed- 
ing thought, —  /.  e.,  'quite  a  dash  of  it,'  'leaves  and  tufts  of 
grass,'  etc.,  —  helps  to  fill  in  the  details  of  the  same  picture — 
a  picture  that  persists  while  the  sentence  is  being  spoken.  One 
subordinate  thought  does  not  replace  another.     All  are  in  the 


24  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

mind  at  the  same  time.  All  that  their  serial  order  means  is 
that  they  are  emphasized  in  succession.  To  keep  the  original 
order  of  the  thought  and  the  special  arrangement  of  words 
involves  the  mere  mechanism  of  association  by  serial  contiguity. 
But  it  is  much  more  involved  in  remembering  the  series  of 
phrases,  where  the  thought  of  one  phrase  does  not  fuse  with 
that  of  the  others.  It  would,  however,  be  an  error  to  suppose 
even  here  that  there  is  no  common  mental  state  to  which  all 
the  separate  thoughts  contribute.  We  feel  in  a  vague  unan- 
alyzed  way  that  we  must  recall  the  five  phrases  of  four  words 
each  that  we  have  just  heard.  This  feeling  guides  and  stimu- 
lates our  recall,  much  as  the  picture  of  the  bloody  trail  leads  to 
repeating  the  sentence.  The  mental  state  is  difficult  to  analyze. 
It  involves  a  recall  of  the  total  condition  under  which  the  phrases 
were  learned  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  range  them  in  order 
and  to  exclude  phrases  belonging  to  other  series.  This  vague 
guiding  consciousness  becomes  quite  prominent  when  some  time 
later  we  endeavor  to  recall  such  a  series.  But  it  is  doubtless 
present  and  just  as  important  in  the  guidance  of  an  immediate 
reproduction.  It  may  be  characterized  as  the  attention  absorb- 
ing itself  in  the  situation  in  which  the  series  was  learned.  Such 
an  attitude  exists  as  preliminary  to  the  recall  of  the  sentences, 
but  it  is  quickly  replaced  by  a  sense  of  the  meaning  they  con- 
vey —  a  far  more  potent  '  open  sesame '  to  the  details  of  the 
series. 

When  we  pass  to  the  series  of  twenty  disconnected  words, 
the  attitude  of  attention  is  reinforced  still  less  by  inherent  com- 
bining forces.  The  main  force  of  serial  association  by  contig- 
uity is  required  to  do  most  of  the  work.  Each  of  the  twenty 
meanings  conveyed  by  the  twenty  words  is  gone  with  the  utter- 
ing of  the  word  that  expresses  it.  It  gets  little  attention  either 
in  learning  or  recall.  It  is  quite  otherwise  with  the  meanings 
of  the  words  in  the  sentence.  Each  shares  all  the  emphasis 
that  every  other  gets,  because  it  is  part  of  that  other.  Ebbing- 
haus  has  given  the  average  memory  span  for  nonsense  syllables 
as  seven.  We  may  suppose  that  for  disconnected  words  it  is 
from  eight  to  ten.  But  with  connected  words  it  ranges  with 
average  minds  from  twenty  to  forty,  depending  upon  the  diffi- 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  25 

culty  of  the  form  of  expression  and  the  degree  of  unity  in  the 
thought. 

School  work  is  concerned  largely  with  meanings.  Words 
sink  into  mere  means  of  expression.  The  kind  of  experiment 
on  memory  that  most  directly  concerns  the  teacher,  therefore, 
will  be  that  which  deals  with  different  sorts  of  associated 
material.  To  find  out  how  well  comparatively  different  classes 
of  such  material  are  retained,  to  investigate  the  efficiency  of 
different  ways  of  learning  it,  to  compare  the  way  in  which  the 
memories  vary  with  the  lapse  of  time,  this  comes  nearer  the 
living  problems  with  which  education  has  to  deal.  We  want 
an  experimental  psychology  of  rhetoric  and  methods  of  teach- 
ing, as  well  as  of  the  relation  of  school  training  to  practical  life. 

The  following  research  deals  with  connect^  material.  It 
does  not  profess  to  have  attained  any  results  of  strikingly  prac- 
tical value.  It  may  claim,  however,  to  have  worked  in  material 
such  as  constitutes  an  important  part  of  school-room  work,  and 
to  have  done  something  to  indicate  the  possibility  of  far  more 
extensive  and  valuable  researches  regarding  the  products  of 
school  training. 


26  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


PART   II.     THE   SPECIAL   RESEARCH. 

The  experiments,  the  results  of  which  it  is  the  special  object 
of  this  paper  to  discuss,  consist  in  having  certain  passages  of 
connected  matter  learned  in  a  given  time,  and  reproduced  after 
definite  intervals.  A  careful  comparison  of  the  successive 
reproductions  with  each  other  and  with  the  original  is  then 
made,  with  the  object  of  finding  out  both  the  amount  and  the 
character  of  the  material  retained  on  each  occasion.  The 
investigations  bear  on  the  relation  between  power  of  learning 
readily  and  of  retaining  what  is  learned,  the  relative  amount  of 
forgetting  after  different  intervals,  and  the  relation  between 
memory  for  ideas  and  memory  for  words.  Moreover,  since 
classes  of  different  ages  were  tested,  the  results  indicate  some- 
thing about  the  effect  of  age  and  training  on  the  power  to  learn 
and  to  remember.  In  two  cases  adults  were  given  the  same 
tests  as  children,  thus  furnishing  sharply  contrasted  conditions 
of  age  and  training.  Inasmuch  as  one  class  of  students  took 
part  in  several  tests,  a  comparison  of  their  relative  rank  in  each 
gives  some  notion  of  the  influence  of  the  kind  of  material  upon 
the  relative  ability  to  learn  and  remember.  Finally,  a  careful 
study  of  what  ideas  are  reproduced  on  the  first  occasion  and 
their  fate  as  evidenced  in  the  later  reproductions  sheds  some 
light  on  the  qualitative  modifications  of  our  ideas  regarding 
certain  things  that  occur  with  the  lapse  of  time.  The  tests,  it 
will  be  seen,  consist  of  material  like  that  which  students  of  dif- 
ferent subjects  might  be  expected  to  learn  and  to  reproduce  in 
some  fashion  in  the  various  exercises  of  the  school  room.  They 
have  therefore  a  direct  bearing  on  the  significance  of  the  results 
of  examinations,  and  on  the  fate  of  the  ideas  implanted  by  the 
teacher  in  the  minds  of  the  pupils. 

r"^  The  Method. 

/        The  members  of  the  class  to  be  tested  were  informed  that 
I   they  were  about  to  be  asked  to  commit  to  memory  as  much  of 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  27 

a  certain  passage  as  they  could  in  three  minutes.  They  were 
told  that  this  was  ample  time  in  which  to  go  over  the  passage  a 
number  of  times  and  to  memorize  a  large  part  of  it.  The  object 
of  this  statement  was  to  allay  the  excitement  that  the  thought  of 
so  short  an  interval  might  arouse,  while  insuring  the  putting 
forth  of  all  the  energies  in  as  concentrated  an  efifort  as  the  indW 
vidual  could  evoke.  I  do  not  think  that  many  of  the  persons 
who  took  part  felt  their  efficiency  materially  interfered  with  by 
the  confusion  of  nervous  excitement.  As  soon  as  these  general 
instructions  were  given,  a  typewritten  copy  of  the  passage  to  be 
studied  was  handed  to  each  member  of  the  class,  to  be  kept  face 
downward  until  a  signal  was  given.  They  were  told  that  they 
should  read  the  passage  over  at  least  twice,  and  then  memorize 
it  in  any  way  they  wished.  This  instruction  aimed  at  insuring 
some  attention  to  the  ideas  of  the  latter  part  of  the  passage. 
The  class  was  also  informed  that  a  written  reproduction  of  the 
passage  would  be  called  for,  in  which  the  words  should  be 
given  where  remembered.  In  case  they  were  forgotten,  the 
ideas  that  were  retained  were  to  be  expressed  as  the  subject 
chose.  At  a  given  signal  the  papers  were  turned,  and  the  work 
began.  It  was  stopped  by  having  the  subjects  turn  over  the 
papers  at  the  end  of  the  three  minutes.  1 

Two__days  later  I  returned  and  asked  for  a  second  reproduc- 
tion of  the  passage,  giving  instructions  as  before.  In  many 
"cases  I  asked  that  the  words  which  they  were  confident  had  oc-/ 
curred  in  the  original  passage  be  underscored.  Four  weeks  later 
I  returned  again,  and  asked  for  a  third  reproductrdn,  giving  sim-;^- 
ilar  instructions.  With  the  graduate  students  in  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, who  memorized  on  separate  occasions  three  different 
passages,  it  was  necessary  to  announce  in  the  beginning  that 
other  reproductions  would  be  expected.  They  found  no  diffi- 
culty, however,  in  carrying  out  my  request  to  banish  the  thought 
of  the  passage  from  their  minds  during  the  interval.  A  similar 
warning  was  given  to  the  mature  students  in  the  summer  session 
of  1902  at  Columbia  University  who  took  part  in  the  experi- 
ment. Thus  a  comparison  of  notes  was  avoided.  To  the  other 
classes  nothing  was  said,  and  my  second  and  third  appearances 
were  surprises.     I  assumed  that  the  later  reproductions  would 


28  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

be  influenced  far  less  by  whatever  discussion  might  appear 
spontaneously  than  by  the  effect  of  suggestion  in  keeping  the 
passage  before  their  thoughts,  in  case  I  warned  them  not  to  talk 
about  it,  assigning  the  reason  that  I  expected  them  to  write  it 
out  again.  Moreover,  with  the  younger  classes  a  request  that 
they  do  not  communicate  with  each  other  would  doubtless  have 
stimulated  rather  than  repressed  such  discussion.  From  a  com- 
parison of  papers  T  am  certain  that  there  was  very  little  gained 
by  intervening  conversations.  I  took  the  testimony  of  the  sub- 
jects regarding  the  matter.  Most  declared  that  they  had  not 
talked  about  the  passage  at  all.  A  few  had  discussed  it,  but 
an  examination  of  their  later  papers  showed  little  or  nothing 
new.  Their  talks,  therefore,  could  have  had  no  effect  except 
to  strengthen  their  earlier  impressions. 

The  Tests. 

Five  passages  were  used  in  the  various  experiments.  They 
were  as  follows. 

Test  I.  —  The  King  Who  Became  Just. 

"  There  was-once,  |  in  the  eastern-part-of  Egypt,-a  king,  || 
whose-reign-had  long  been-a  course-of  savage-tyranny ;  |  long- 
had  he  ruined-the  rich  |  and  distressed-the  poor.  ||  Suddenly-he 
changed-his  course  ]  and  ruled-so  well  as-to  be  called-the  just.  1| 
When  asked-by  a  favorite-the  reason-for  this-change,  |  he  re- 
plied: II  'I  saw-a  dog,  |  which,  soon  after-it  had  bitten-off-the 
leg-of  a  fox,  II  was  struck-on  the  head-by  a  great-stone,  |  that 
cracked-its  skull.  |  The  stone-was  thrown-by  a  man,  ||  who-at 
that  instant-ran-in  the  way-of  a  horse  |  and  was  trod  on-and 
lamed-forever.  ||  A  short  time-after  |  the  horse-broke-its  ankle- 
bone-between  two-stones.  ||  These-sudden-misfortunes-con- 
vinced  me  |  that  men-are  used-as  they  use-others.'" 

This  passage  was  selected  and  adapted  as  one  suitable  for 
younger  classes.  It  presents  interesting  and  intelligible  mate- 
rial, and  contains  a  variety  of  elements.  It  is  so  condensed  as 
to  furnish  abundant  matter  for  a  three-minute  exercise  in  mem- 
orizing. The  marks  indicate  the  analysis  on  the  basis  of  which 
the  scoring  of  the  number  of  ideas  retained  was  based.  The 
hyphens  separate  the  detailed  thoughts,  the  score  in  regard  to 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  29 

which  was  usually  taken  as  the  record  of  the  excellence  of  the 
memory.  The  perpendicular  lines  separate  certain  subtopics, 
the  score  in  regard  to  which  I  have  compared  with  the  score  in 
detailed  ideas.  Finally,  the  parallel  perpendiculars  separate 
the  main  topics  into  which  the  thought  of  the  passage  was 
analyzed. 

Test  2.  —  Cicero. 

•'  Cicero,  |  the  greatest-of  the  Roman-orators,  ||  was  born-at 
Arpinum,  |  an  obscure-country-town.  ||  His  family-was  of  the 
middle  class-only,  |  and  without  wealth,  ||  yet  he  rose-rapidly  | 
through  the  ranks-of  Roman-official  service  |  until  at  the  age-of 
forty-six  |  he  became-consul.  ||  In  oratory-he  is  |  by  universal 
consent  |  placed  side  by  side-with  Demosthenes,  |  or  at  least- 
close  after  him.  ||  He  surpassed-the  great- Attic-orator  |  in  bril- 
liancy-and  variety,  |  but  lacked-his  moral-earnestness-and  con- 
sequent-impressiveness.  ||  He  could  be-humorous, -sarcastic,  | 
pathetic, -ironical,-satirical,  ||  and  when  he  was-malignant  |  his 
mouth  was-most-foul  |  and  his  bite-most-venomous.  ||  His  de- 
livery-was impassioned-and  fiery,  |  his  voice  strong, -full, -and 
sweet,  I  his  figure-tall, -graceful, -and  impressive." 

It  was  thought  that  this  passage  would  be  suitable  for  his- 
tory or  Latin  classes  of  the  high-school  grade,  and  it  was  used 
with  such  subjects.  It  bore  on  work  that  frequently  they  were 
doing,  and  it  offered  a  chance  to  study  the  influence  of  this 
work,  besides  appealing  to  the  teachers  as  embodying  material 
worthy  of  reflection. 

These  two  passages  were  the  ones  used  with  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  subjects.  The  other  three :  one,  a  con- 
densed historical  sketch ;  the  second,  a  detailed  description,  and 
the  last,  an  abstract  discussion,  were  given  to  the  same  stu- 
dents. They  represent  widely  different  fields  of  thought,  and 
may  be  taken  as  affording  a  good  basis  for  comparing  the 
memory  for  different  classes  of  material.     The  passages  follow. 

Test  J. — The  History  of  the  Jews.  (From  Milman's 
*  History  of  the  Jews.') 

♦'  The  Jews, -without  reference  to-their  religious-belief, -|  are 
among-the    most-remarkable-people-|  in    the    annals-of    man- 


30  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

kind.  II  Sprung-from  one-stock,  |  they  pass-the  infancy-of 
their  nation  |  in  a  state  of  servitude-in  a  foreign-country,  || 
where,  nevertheless, -they  increase-so  rapidly-as  to  become-on  a 
sudden  |  the  fierce-and  irresistible-conquerors  |  of  their  native- 
valleys-in  Palestine.  ||  There  they-settle  down  |  under  a  form 
of  government-and  code  of  laws  |  totally  unlike-those  of  any 
other  I  rude  or-civilized-community.  ||  They  sustain-a  long- 
and  doubtful-conflict,  ]  sometimes-enslaved, -sometimes-victori- 
ous, I  with  the  neighboring-tribes.  ||  At  length, -united-under 
one-monarchy,  |  they  gradu ally-rise-to  the  rank  j  of  a  powerful, - 
opulent, -and  commercial  people.  ||  Subsequently, -weakened 
by-internal-discord,  |  they  are  overwhelmed-by  the  vast-mon- 
archies I  which  arose-on  the  banks-of  the  Euphrates,  |  and  are 
transplanted-into  a  foreign-region.  ||  They  are  partially-re- 
stored I  by  the  generosity-or  policy-of  the  Eastern-sovereigns,  | 
to  their  native-land." 

Test  /J.. — The  Dutch  Homestead.     (From  Irving's  'Leg- 
end of  Sleepy  Hollow.') 

"It  was-one-of  those  spacious-farm-houses,  j  with  high- 
ridged-but  lowly-sloping-roofs,  |  built-in  the  style-handed  down 
from-the  first-Dutch-settlers,  ||  the  low-projecting-eaves-forming 
a  piazza-along  the  front  |  capable-of  being  closed  up-in  bad 
weather.  ||  Under  this-were  hung-flails, -harness,  |  various- 
utensils-of  husbandry,  ]  and  nets-for  fishing-in  the  neighboring- 
river.  ||  Benches-were  built-along  the  side-for  summer  use; 
I  and  a  great-spinning  wheel-at  one  end,  |  and  a  churn-at  the 
other,  I  showed-the  various  uses-to  which  this  important-porch- 
might  be  devoted.  |1  From  this  piazza-one  might  enter-the 
hall,  I  which  formed-the  center-of  the  mansion  |  and  the  usual- 
place  of  residence.  ||  Here-rows-of  resplendent-pewter  | 
ranged-on  a  long-dresser  |  dazzled-his  eyes.  ||  In  one  corner- 
stood  a  huge-bag  of  wool,  |  ready-to  be  spun ;  |  in  another-a 
quantity-of  linsy-woolsey,  |  just-from  the  loom;  ||  ears-of  Indian 
corn  I  and  strings-of  dried-apples-and  peaches  ]  hung-in  gay- 
festoons-along  the  walls,  |  mingled-with  the  gaud-of  red-pep- 
pers." 

Test  ^.  —  The  Stages  in  the  Development  of  Human 
Theory.     (From  Martineau's  '  Comte's  Positive  Philosophy.') 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  3 1 

"  From  the  study-of  the  development-of  human-intelligence, 
in  all-directions, -and  through  all-times,  |  the  discovery-arises- 
of  a  great-fundamental-law,  ||  to  which-it  is  necessarily-subject, 
I  and  which-has  a  solid-foundation-of  proof,  |  both-in  the  f acts-of 
our-organization  |  and  in  our-historical-experience.  ||  The  law- 
is  this  :-  I  that  each-of  our-leading-conceptions,-  |  each-branch-of 
our-knowledge,-  |  passes-successively-through  three-different- 
theoretical-conditions :  II  the  Theological, -or  fictitious;  |  the 
Metaphysical, -or  abstract;  |  and  the  Scientific, -or  positive.  || 
In  other  words, -the  human-mind, -by  its  nature,  |  employs-in  its 
progress-three-methods-of  philosophizing,  |  the  character  of 
which-is  essentially-different,  |  and  even-radically-opposed :  | 
viz., -the  theological-method, -the  metaphysical,-and  the  posi- 
tive. I  Hence-arise-three-philosophies,  |  or  general-systems-of 
conceptions-on  the  aggregate-of  phenomena,  |  each  of  which- 
excludes-the  others.  ||  The  first-is  the  necessary-point  of  de- 
parture-of  the  human-understanding  ;  |  and  the  third-is  its  fixed- 
and  definitive-state.  |  The  second-is  merely-a  state  of  transi- 
tion." 

The  Classes  of  Subjects  Tested. 

The  following  classes  of  students  took  part  in  the  experi- 
ments : 

1.  One  hundred  and  three  pupils  in  Public  School  No.  40, 
New  York  City.  These  were  all  boys  varying  in  age  from  10 
to  16.  The  school  includes  both  primary  and  grammar  depart- 
ments, and  all  pupils  are  ranged  from  beginning  to  finishing 
classes  in  16  grades  ;  grade  lA  being  the  lowest  and  8B  the 
highest.  The  pupils  taking  part  in  the  experiment  were  in 
three  grades  as  follows  :  33  in  grade  7B,  43  in  grade  6B,  and 
27  in  grade  5B. 

2.  Fifty-three  pupils  in  the  Erasmus  Hall  High  School, 
Brooklyn.  Of  these  37  were  girls  and  16  boys.  The  school  is 
arranged  in  8  grades,  beginning  with  grade  i,  and  the  grades 
are  divided  into  sections  indicated  by  the  letters  A,  B,  etc. 
The  pupils  tested  were  in  three  grades  :  23  in  grade  i,  section 
A,  18  in  grade  4,  section  B,  and  12  in  grade  8,  section  B. 

3.  Twenty-one  students  in  a  course  in  psychology  in  Colum- 


32  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

bia  University.     Most  of  them  were  seniors  in  Columbia  Col- 
lege.    Four,  however,  were  women  from  Barnard  College. 

4.  Eighteen  graduate  students  in  Columbia  University. 

5.  Seventeen  students  in  the  summer  session  of  1902,  at  Co- 
lumbia University.     Of  these  4  were  women. 

The  following  abbreviations  will  be  used  to  indicate  the 
different  classes  of  subjects:  P.  S.  7B,  P.  S.  6B,  and  P.  S.  5B 
will  signify  the  different  grades  in  Public  School  No.  40.  E. 
H.  S.  8B,  E.  H.  S.  4B,  E.  H.  S.  lA,  will  indicate  the  various 
classes  in  the  Erasmus  Hall  High  School.  S.  S.  students  will 
be  used  for  students  in  the  summer  session  at  Columbia  Univer- 
sity. The  expressions  college  students  and  graduate  students 
will  serve  to  denominate  the  other  classes  tested. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  212  subjects  range  from  the  young 
pupil,  whose  ability  to  read  and  write  is  barely  sufficient  to  make 
such  an  experiment  possible,  to  individuals  well  on  toward 
middle  life,  and  representing  a  high  grade  of  scholastic  attain- 
ment. Inasmuch  as  most  of  the  graduate  students  took  part  in 
three  experiments  and  the  college  students  in  two,  I  had  in  all 
259  papers  in  which  the  various  reproductions  were  complete. 

This  number  may  not  seem  sufficiently  large  for  a  statistical 
investigation,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  length  and 
character  of  the  tests  made  them  fairly  reliable  measures  of  the 
powers  of  the  individuals.  It  was  not  so  necessary,  therefore, 
as  it  would  have  been  in  a  shorter  test,  to  swallow  up  errors  re- 
garding individual  measurements  by  the  mere  mass  of  testimony. 
On  the  other  hand,  only  in  so  far  as  the  individuals  tested  are 
typical  can  the  results  be  said  to  be  universally  valid.  To  the 
consideration  of  these  results  let  us  now  proceed. 

The  Results. 
These  I  think  it  convenient  to  group  in  two  divisions:  A^ 
the  amounts  of  loss  in  the  various  reproductions  and  with  the 
various  classes  of  subjects  and  tests ;  B^  the  character  of  this 
loss  in  the  different  cases. 

J.  A.    The  Amounts  0/  Loss. 

In  order  to  deal  with  this  matter  a  method  of  scoring  was 
necessary.     This  required  analysis  of  the  thought  of  the  pas- 


^^: 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  33 

sages  —  an  analysis  that  is  indicated  in  the  passages  as  printed. 
The  following  table  gives  the  standard  score  of  each  passage. 

Topics.     Subtopics.    Details.  Words. 

The  King  Who  Became  Just.  9  20  69  138 

Cicero.  9  25  64  125 

The  History  of  the  Jews.  8  26  80  163 

The  Dutch  Homestead.  8  26  88  180 
The  Stages  in  the  Development  of 

Human  Theory.  7  25  93  171 

It  must  be  confessed  that  this  analysis  has  in  it  something 
arbitrary.  To  say  that  each  of  the  detailed  thoughts  thus  indi- 
cated is  equal  in  value  to  every  other  is  manifestly  absurd. 
And  this  is  true  whether  our  estimate  be  based  on  relative  impor- 
tance to  the  thought  in  general  or  on  relative  difficulty  of  recall. 
But  it  must  be  granted  that  the  same  objection  could  be  raised 
against  any  endeavor  to  compare  two  mental  conditions  quanti- 
tatively. However,  as  the  mind  of  the  subject  traveled  over 
the  thought  it  was  trying  to  reproduce,  it  may  be  conceived  to 
have  rested  momentarily  on  each  of  the  details  indicated.  In  | 
general,  the  better  memories  could  be  expected  to  retain  not 
only  the  easily  remembered  details,  but  also  the  ones  harder  to 
recall,  whereas  the  poorer  ones  would  retain  only  the  former 
class.  In  such  cases  the  scores  given  can  not  be  challenged  on 
the  ground  that  the  lack  of  equality  between  the  units  renders 
the  ranking  of  the  subjects  arbitrary.  Placing  different  values 
on  the  ideas  or  analyzing  the  units  differently  might  affect  the 
ranking  in  cases  where  the  loss  of  certain  ideas  is  pitted  against 
that  of  different  ones,  but  seldom,  I  am  confident,  could  one 
justify  a  valuation  or  an  analysis  so  different  from  mine  as  to 
affect  materially  the  ranking  of  the  student.  Hence,  the  general 
results  of  my  investigation  are,  I  conceive,  not  dependent  on 
the  peculiarities  of  my  scoring. 

The  scores  given  have  not  been  diminished  because  of  errors. 
They  are  records  only  of  what  was  retained.  I  have  taken  the 
ground  that  the  erroneous  idea  that  contains  the  suggestion  of 
the  true  one  deserves  a  positive  rather  than  a  negative  score.  It 
indicates  a  thought  corresponding,  however  inaccurately,  to  the 
earlier  one.  Such  ideas  are  given  a  part  of  the  value  of  an 
accurate  memory.     Some  individuals,   it  is  true,   leave  unex- 


34  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

pressed  the  hazy  idea  that  they  fear  is  erroneous.  They  might 
suffer  by  comparison  with  cloudier  minds  that  failed  to  discover 
the  presence  of  the  fog.  However,  a  mind  that  feels  a  certain 
idea  to  be  inaccurate  is  usually  able  to  express  the  part  or  phase 
of  the  thought  that  is  accurate,  and  thus  render  a  true  account 
of  what  was  in  the  memory. 

In  comparing  the  abilities  of  different  classes  of  subjects,  I 
have  used  for  the  most  part  the  scores  made  in  detailed  thoughts 
and  in  words.  This  was  regarded  as  the  safest  basis  for  such 
comparison.  If  the  equal  value  of  the  elemental  ideas  is  ques- 
tioned, much  more  might  that  of  the  subtopics  and  topics  into 
which  the  thought  of  the  passage  was  analyzed.  A  considera- 
tion of  the  scores  in  larger  thoughts  as  compared  with  those  in 
details  is  reserved  for  the  discussion  on  the  qualitative  differ- 
ences between  the  different  reproductions. 

The  scoring  of  words  remembered  might  easily  become  a 
complicated  matter.  Doubtless,  the  reproducing  of  certain 
words  means  far  more  power  of  memory  than  that  of  others.  I 
have  used  the  following  system.  All  words  of  the  original  that 
were  reproduced  in  their  former  contexts  were  scored  full  value. 
Commonplace  words,  particularly  articles,  prepositions,  and 
conjunctions,  were  not  scored  when  reproduced  out  of  their 
context.  On  the  other  hand,  an  unusual  word  was  regarded  as 
remembered,  even  though  it  appeared  in  the  wrong  context. 
■Occasionally  a  word  was  evidently  used  because  its  sound  was 
;somewhat  like  that  of  one  in  the  original.  A  half  credit  was 
here  given.  Words  that  were  modified  to  suit  changes  in  con- 
struction, etc.,  were  given  partial  credit  also.  Let  us  now  pro- 
ceed to  the  comparison  of  the  various  records.^ 

Average  Scores  of  the  Different  Classes. 


Test. 

Class. 

ist  Rep. 

Av.Dev. 

Id( 
2d  Rep. 

;as. 

Av 

'.  Dev. 

3d  Rep. 

Av.  Dev. 

Test  I. 

S.  S.  students, 

53-0 

6.6 

48.3 

5.6 

45.8 

6.5 

P.  S.  7B  pupils, 

49-5 

6.9 

46.5 

4.8 

41.9 

8.2 

P.  S.  6B      " 

45-9 

6.0 

44.6 

7-3 

41-3 

6.2 

P.  S.  5B      " 

38.3 

8.3 

36.3 

8.8 

32,0 

7-5 

*  I  introduce  in  the  appendix,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  care  to  examine 
the  numerical  data  on  the  basis  of  which  all  these  computations  depend,  a  list 
of  the  individual  scores  in  the  various  tests. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  35 


Ideas. 

Test. 

Class. 

ist  Rep. 

Av.Dev. 

2d  Rep.    A 

V.  Dev. 

3d  Rep. 

Av.  Dev 

Test  2. 

E.  H.  S.  SB  students, 

42.6 

5-1 

38.0 

6.6 

33-5 

8.8 

E.  H.  S.  4B 

38.0 

7-5 

34-9 

9-3 

24.9 

10.6 

E.  H.  S.  lA 

36.8 

7-9 

31.0 

8.1 

22.8 

8.4 

College  students, 

48.0 

8.2 

36.5 

8.2 

34-5 

10.3 

Test  3. 

College       " 

37-0 

4.4 

27.0 

5-1 

24.1 

7.2 

Graduate     " 

42.2 

10.2 

34.6 

10.3 

29-5 

10. 1 

Test  4. 

Graduate    " 

57-5 

8.8 

46.9 

8.1 

40.6 

8.0 

Test  5. 

Graduate     " 

45-9 

13.2 

30-4 

8.9 

21.8 

8.9 

Test  3. 

12  selected  graduates,' 

44-5 

9.9 

37-5 

9.2 

32.9 

8.0 

Test  4. 

12 

60.6 

7.0 

49.0 

6.4 

41.8 

7-7 

Test  5. 

12 

45-6 

II. 7 

30.1 

8.6 

22.4 

9-5 

Average  Scores  of  the  Different  Ci<asses. 

Words. 


Test. 

Class. 

tst  Rep. 

Av.  Dev. 

2d  Rep. 

Av.  Dev. 

3d  Rep. 

Av.  Dev, 

Test  I. 

S.  S.  students, 

77-0 

13-4 

59-0 

13-3 

52.1 

13.2 

P.  S.  7B  pupils, 

70.6 

14. 1 

61. 1 

12.2 

5I.I 

16.6 

P.  S.  6B     " 

639 

12.3 

59-7 

13-9 

52.1 

14.I 

P.  S.  5B     '« 

53-4 

13-7 

47-4 

II. 2 

40.4 

II. 2 

Test  2. 

E.  H.  S.  8B  students, 

76.5 

9.1 

64.6 

11.4 

55-7 

17.0 

E.  H.  S.  4B 

66.3 

16.4 

57-9 

18.7 

44-1 

18.8 

E.  H.  S.  lA 

61.2 

16.5 

47.8 

14.3 

32.4 

II-3 

College 

82.0 

195 

49-7 

18.0 

44.2 

20.7 

Test  3. 

College 

43-4 

8.2 

26.6 

8.6 

22.3 

9.6 

Graduate 

56.5 

16.5 

37-8 

15-5 

30.5 

14.0 

Test  4. 

Graduate 

90.9 

15.1 

66.9 

13-9 

51-9 

9-4 

Test  5. 

Graduate 

63.7 

21.3 

390 

12.8 

24-5 

II.O 

Test  3. 

12  selected  graduates,^ 

■   60.7 

19.2 

41.3 

17.1 

34-9 

13-4 

Test  4. 

12         " 

(1 

96.0 

12.9 

71.0 

12.2 

53-6 

10.5 

Test  5. 

12 

<i 

63.2 

20.9 

39-2 

13.2 

24.4 

II. 4 

Average  Percentages  of  Loss  in  the  Various  Reproductions.^ 

Ideas.  Words. 


Test. 

Class. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

Test  I. 

S.  S.  students, 

23'.  I 

8.8 

13-6 

44.2 

23-3 

32.3 

P.  S.  7B  pupils, 

28.1 

6.0 

15-3 

48.8 

13-4 

27.7 

P.  S.  6B      " 

33-4 

2.8 

7.8 

53-7 

6.5 

18.4 

P.  S.  5B       " 

44-5 

5-2 

16.4 

61.3 

II. 2 

24-3 

'  For  purposes  of  comparison  the  average  scores  of  12  students  who  gave  all 
the  reproductions  of  tests  3,  4  and  5  are  given. 

^  These  percentages  of  loss  are  based  in  the  case  of  the  first  reproduction 
on  the  standard  score,  and  in  the  second  and  third  reproductions  on  the  record 
in  the  first  reproduction.  The  object  is  to  ascertain  what  proportion  of  the 
original  passage  was  not  learned  and  what  proportion  of  what  was  learned  was 
not  retained  in  the  second  and  third  reproductions.  The  significance  of  these 
data  will  be  discussed  later. 


36  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


Ideas.  Words. 

Test.  Class.  ist  Rep.  2d  Rep.  3d  Rep.  1st  Rep.  2d  Rep.  3d  Rep. 

Test  2.     E.  H.  S.  8B  students,  33.4  10.8  19.0  38.8  15.5  27.3 

40.6  8.1  34.4  46.9  12.6  33.4 

42.5  15-7  38.0  51.0  21.9  47.0 
25.0  23.9  28.1  34.4  39.3  46.1 

53.7  27.0  34.8  72.1  38.7  48.6 
47.2  18.0  30.0  65.4  33  I  46.0 

34.6  18.4  28.6  49.5  26.4  42.9 
50.5  33-7  52-4  62.7  38.7  61.5 


E.  H.  S.  4B 
E.H.  S.  lA 
College 
Test  3,     College 

Graduate 
Test  4.  Graduate 
Test  5.     Graduate 


Test  3.     12  graduates,  44.3         15.7         26.0  62.7        31.9        42.5 

Test  4.     12  graduates,  31. i         19.1         31.0  46.1         26.0        44.1 

Test  5.     12  graduates,  50.9        34.0        50.8  63.0        37.9        61.3 

An  examination  of  the  scores  in  test  i  shows  that  the  total 
record  of  each  of  the  different  classes  of  students  grows  in 
every  reproduction  better  as  we  go  from  the  lower  to  the  more 
advanced  classes.  This  is  invariably  true  of  the  ideas.  In  the 
case  of  the  words  the  S.  S.  students  fall  below  the  P.  S.  6B 
pupils  in  the  second  reproduction  ;  and  the  P.  S.  6B  pupils  did 
as  well  as  they  in  the  third  reproduction.  The  older  students 
evidently  attended  less  to  words,  or  at  least  forgot  them  more  as 
compared  with  ideas,  than  did  the  younger  ones.  In  test  2  the 
more  advanced  classes  generally  score  a  better  record  in  ideas 
remembered,  the  exception  being  that  the  college  students  fall 
below  E.  H.  S.  8B  students  in  the  second  reproduction.  In 
their  word  record  the  college  students  went  down  even  below 
the  E.  H.  S.  4B  students  in  the  second  reproduction,  and  below 
the  E.  H.  S.  8B  students  in  the  third. 

It  is  evident  that  so  far  as  positive  scores  are  concerned,  the 
advanced  students  do  better  as  a  rule  than  those  in  lower 
classes.  At  the  same  time  the  size  of  the  average  deviations 
in  the  table  of  totals  shows  how  unsafe  would  be  a  prediction 
that  an  individual  in  a  higher  class  will  do  better  than  one  in 
the  class  below.  A  comparison  of  the  percentages  of  loss  in 
tests  I  and  2  shows  that  between  the  first  and  third  reproduc- 
tions the  rate  of  loss  is  highest  with  the  lowest  class,  but  does 
not  steadily  decrease  as  we  approach  the  higher  ones.  P.  S. 
6B  pupils  suffer  the  least  percentage  of  loss  in  test  i,  and  E. 
H.  S.  8B  students  remember  best  in  test  2.  There  is  evidently 
a  slight  tendency  for  the  more  advanced  classes  to  remember 
better.     The  heavy  percentage  of  loss  of  college  students  in  the 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  37 

second  reproduction  of  test  2  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
test  was  followed  by  another  of  the  same  sort  and  also  by  fur- 
ther experiments.  This  caused  it  to  produce  a  less  profound 
impression  upon  them  than  upon  the  high-school  students,  to 
whom  it  was  a  decided  novelty. 

We  can  be  fairly  sure  that  the  more  advanced  students  learn 
more  quickly  than  those  in  lower  grades.  Is  this  because  their 
memories  are  better  or  because  their  general  knowledge  and 
training  makes  them  more  readily  grasp  the  contents  of  the 
passages,  and  more  effectively  address  themselves  to  the  task 
of  committing  these  to  memory?  If  the  record  of  percentages 
of  loss  may  be  taken  as  the  best  criterion  of  excellence  of  mem- 
ory, we  may  be  sure  that  the  better  average  scores  of  the  older 
classes  are  not  due  wholly  to  this  power.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  assumption  is  a  safe  one.  Relative  rate  of  loss  will  inevi- 
tably determine  in  the  long  run  the  relative  standing  of  two  in- 
dividuals in  regard  to  their  knowledge  of  certain  common  ex- 
periences, no  matter  what  portion  of  these  experiences  may 
have  originally  effected  lodgment  in  the  minds  of  each.  Two 
different  scores  each  diminishing  regularly  by  certain  percentages 
will  approach  each  other  continually  if  the  percentages  be  the 
same.  If  they  be  different,  the  higher  rate  of  loss  will  inevit- 
ably bring  either  of  the  scores  to  be  the  lower  one,  and  the 
memory  suffering  such  loss  may  certainly  be  regarded  as  the 
weaker  one. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  power  to  retain  for  a  consider- 
able time  may  be  to  a  great  extent  independent  of  the  power  to 
remember  long  enough  to  reproduce.  This  point  I  shall  deal 
with  later.  If,  however,  they  are,  as  one  might  expect,  the 
same  at  bottom,  then  it  seems  likely  from  the  evidence  of  per- 
centages of  loss,  that  the  more  advanced  students  learned  more 
quickly  because  of  knowledge  and  skill  rather  than  because 
their  memories  were  better. 

In  some  cases  the  slight  superiority  of  the  older  students  in 
power  both  to  learn  and  to  remember  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
more  advanced  classes  are  made  up  of  students  with  higher  na- 
tive ability  than  the  lower  ones.  This  result  must  of  course 
follow  from  elimination  of  the  weaker  minds  from  the  higher 


3^  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

grades  of  work.  In  P.  S.  No.  40,  however,  the  influence  of 
such  selection  will  doubtless  be  small.  It  will  therefore  be  of 
some  interest  to  examine  the  data  from  that  school,  with  a  view 
toward  determining  just  how  much  growth  there  is  from  year  to 
year  in  the  powers  in  question. 

Effect  of  Age  and  Training  on  Power  to  Learn  and  to 

Remember. 

In  estimating  the  average  score  of  the  children  of  the  same 
age  who  were  tested  in  P.  S.  No.  40,  I  made  two  calculations. 
In  one  all  the  scores  are  used,  in  the  other  the  scores  of  those 
who  retained  less  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  original  matter  in  the 
first  reproduction  were  left  out.  I  regard  these  records  as  fre- 
quently more  a  result  of  difficulties  in  reading  and  understand- 
ing the  matter  of  the  test  than  of  lack  of  a  more  general  ability 
to  learn  or  to  remember.  Occasionally  an  individual  who  does 
very  poorly  at  first  will  retain  all  he  learns.  If  the  power  to 
read  and  understand  were  at  fault,  then  the  inclusion  of  such 
subjects  with  those  who  have  no  such  difficulties  confuses  the 
factors  the  influence  of  which  we  are  trying  to  determine. 

Average  Scores  According  to  Age.    Test  i. 

S.  S.  students.  i6.  15.  14. 

Age.      Score.      Av.  Dev.        Score.        Av.  Dev.  Score.        Av.  Dev.  Score.        Av.  Dev. 

ist  rep.   53.0         6  59+         3+  50+         6  46+  6  + 

2d  rep.   48.3         5+58  5  47+8  44  8 

3d  rep.    45-8         6+  54+  8+  43+         8+  39  9 

Average  Scores  According  to  Age.    Test  i  {Continued'). 
13.  12.  II.  10. 

Age.  Score.    Av.  Dev.  Score.  Av.  Dev.  Score.  Av.  Dev.  Score.       Av.  Dev. 

istrep.  44+7  41              9+  45+  6  38+10 

2d  rep.  42  +        8  40  +         9  +  43  +  8  +  37  +        10 

3d  rep.  37  +        9  +  37  +          9  4i  7  +  34             10  + 

Average  Scores  According  to  Age.    Test  i.    Omitting  Those  Bei.ow 
50  Per  Cent.    First  Reproduction  (15  in  Number). 

S.  S.  students.                       i6.                                      15.  14. 

Age.              Score.    Av.  Dev.  Score.    Av.  Dev.  Score.    Av.  Dev.  Score.    Av.  Dev. 

1st  rep.        53.0            6  59+            3+  53+            3+  48            5 

2d  rep.        48.3            5+  58               5  5o+            4+  45+        6+ 

3d   rep.        45.8            6+  54+            8+  46+            6  40+        8 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  39 

Average  Scores  According  to  Age.    Test  i.    Omitting  Those  Below 
50  Per  Cent.  First  reproduction  (15  in  Number).     {Continued.) 


13- 

12. 

II. 

10. 

Age.               Score.    Av.  Dev. 

Score. 

Av.  Dev. 

Score.    Av.  Dev. 

Score.    Av.  Dev, 

1st  rep.          47                 5+ 

48 

6 

47                6 

44+        6 

2d  rep.        45               6+ 

45 

6 

45                6 

44+         6 

3d   rep.         40                8+ 

42 

6+ 

42                6+ 

40            9 

The  ages  of  the  pupils  in 

I  each  g 

rade  is  indicated 

as  follows  : 

Age.                  16. 

15- 

14. 

13- 

12.                      II. 

10. 

P.  S.  7B.                 2 

7 

10 

9 

4 

P.  S.  6B. 

3 

II 

9 

12              7 

P.  S.  5B. 

2 

8 

7              3 

6 

Total.  2  10  23  26  23  10  6 

At  first  sight  it  seems  that  the  older  students  show  in  general 
slight  superiority  over  the  younger  ones  so  far  as  scores  are 
concerned.  In  the  later  and  more  reliable  table,  however,  no 
growth  appears  between  11  and  14  years  of  age  and  the  slight 
advance  from  14  to  15  may  easily  be  due  to  chance.  In  gen- 
eral, the  fewness  of  the  cases  renders  the  evidence  decidedly 
inconclusive,  but  a  comparison  of  the  two  tables  suggests  that 
the  elimination  of  those  who  have  difficulty  in  comprehending 
the  passage  has  destroyed  the  larger  part  of  the  superiority  of 
the  older  students.  In  the  cases  of  S.  S.  students,  the  better 
record  is  to  be  accounted  for  because  they  were  doubtless  a 
selected  class  as  compared  with  the  children.  Indeed,  one  is 
surprised  that  they  do  not  show  more  superiority.  It  will  be 
seen  that  they  are  surpassed  by  the  children  15  and  16  years  of 
age.  When  we  compare  percentages  of  loss  according  to  age, 
we  find  even  less  evidence  of  any  grow^th  from  younger  to  older 
children. 

Average  Percentages  of  Loss  According  to  Age,  Third  Reproduc- 
tion, Test  i. 

Age.  S.  S.  students,  16        15        14        13        12        11         10 

Per  cent,  of  loss.  14  8        13        15        14        12        10        10 

It  would  seem  that  the  younger  pupils  remember  quite  as 
well  as  the  older  ones,  or  even  better.  It  seems  to  me  that  we 
are  justified  in  suspecting  that  whatever  inferiority  they  show  in 
power  to  learn  is  due  to  their  lack  of  ability  to  read  and  under- 
stand readily.     An  examination  of  the  papers  of  younger  pupils 


40  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

reveals  strange  misstatements,  that  are  reproduced  literally  in 
the  later  papers.  In  a  comparatively  poor  paper  by  a  boy  lo 
years  old  in  P.  S.  5B,  we  find  the  passage,  'whose  reign  had 
long  been  a  course  of  savage  tyranny.  Long  had  he  ruined  the 
rich  and  distressed  the  poor,' rendered  as  follows:  ist  repro., 
'who  had  reign  over  the  rich  and  discresed  (?)  the  poor  in 
dammand  (?)'  2nd  repro.,  'which  ruled  over  the  rich  in  dem- 
mand  (?)  of  the  poor' ;  3d  repro.,  '  who  ruled  over  the  rich  and 
demanded  the  poor.'  Certainly  such  mistakes  cannot  be  attrib- 
uted to  bad  memory.  They  are  evidence  of  an  unfamiliarity 
with  the  words  in  the  text,  such  as  is  common  in  this  grade,  and 
has  disappeared  almost  entirely  in  P.  S.  7B  students. 

Notwithstanding  the  fewness  of  my  subjects,  it  seems  to  me 
that  my  results  warrant  the  suspicion  that  the  growth  with  age 
of  power  to  reproduce  immediately  series  of  numbers,  letters, 
words,  etc.,  established  by  Bolton,  Bourdon,  Netschajeff  and 
others,  may  be  due  not  to  growth  in  power  to  remember ;  it  is 
very  likely  the  result  of  greater  ability  to  understand  instruc- 
tions and  the  meaning  of  words,  to  more  familiarity  with  num- 
bers, and  other  similar  causes.  Results  ranged  according  to 
grades  would  depend  on  training  rather  than  age,  and  the  fact 
that  the  children  of  a  certain  age  were  in  my  tests  distributed 
in  several  grades  tended  to  eliminate  the  factors  of  ability  and 
training,  and  to  emphasize  such  differences,  or  lack  of  differ- 
ences, as  were  due  to  age  alone.  To  separate  absolutely  the 
effects  of  age  from  those  of  training  is,  of  course,  very  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  and  I  can  claim  only  to  have  indicated  the 
probability  that  training  is  the  more  important  of  the  two. 

Correlation  of  Scores  According  to  Ability. 

Let  us  now  take  up  the  question  of  whether  power  to  learn 
readily  correlates  with  power  to  remember  what  is  learned. 
Two  investigations  may  be  made,  each  contributing  to  the 
definiteness  of  our  knowledge  in  the  matter.  The  first  will 
consist  in  comparing  the  relative  score  of  each  subject  in  the 
first  reproduction  of  a  certain  test  with  that  in  the  later  repro- 
ductions of  the  same  passage.     The  second  will  compare  the 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  41 

relative  percentages  of  loss  of  the  different  subjects  in  the  vari- 
ous reproductions. 

The  method  of  correlation  that  I  have  used  is  that  employed 
by  Karl  Pearson/  and  in  such  calculations  generally.  The 
percentage  of  correlation  between  the  scores  in  two  functions  of 
a  number  of  individuals  is  symbolized  by  r.     The  formula  for 

its  calculation  is 

Ixy 
r  = 


no^a^ 


Here  o^  represents  the  standard  deviation  of  the  individuals  of 
a  group  from  the  average  in  one  function,  o^  the  standard  devia- 
tion from  the  average  in  the  other  function,  x  and  y  represent 
the  deviations  of  any  individual  from  the  average  scores  in  the 
two  functions  compared.  The  probable  error  in  r  is  found  by 
the  formula 

This  is,  of  course,  of  importance  in  determining  the  signifi- 
cance of  estimates  based  on  a  comparatively  small  number  of 
cases. 

Correlations  of  the  Scores  in  Ideas  in  the  Various 

Reproductions . 

The  two  most  important  estimates  that  I  have  made  are 
based  on  a  comparison  of  all  the  scores  of  the  various  classes  of 
individuals  who  took  part  in  test  i  ('  The  King  Who  Became 
Just ')  and  test  2  ('  Cicero ').  Such  a  method  of  combining  data  dis- 
regards wholly  the  effect  of  age  and  training,  or  of  sex,  wherever 
the  subjects  are  of  both  sexes.  It  ranks  all  individuals  accord- 
ing to  their  abilities  in  learning  the  passage,  and  compares  this 
rank  with  that  which  they  attain  in  the  later  reproductions. 
We  do  not  compare  directly  power  to  learn  and  power  to  retain, 
but  we  find  in  how  far  a  person  will  tend  to  preserve  his  original 
rank  within  the  limits  of  time  over  which  the  tests  extended. 
Such  a  calculation  certainly  is  of  some  significance. 

In  test  I  there  were  120  who  took  part.     Comparing  their 

1 '  Grammar  of  Science. ' 


42  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

ranking  in  the  first  reproduction  with  that  in  the  second  we  find 
that:  8  kept  the  same  rank,  70  lost  in  rank  with  an  average 
loss  of  6.8  grades,  42  gained  in  rank  with  an  average  gain  of 
4  grades.     The  average  change  in  rank  of  all  was  5.4  grades. 

Comparing  their  ranking  in  the  first  with  that  in  the  third 
reproduction  :  7  kept  the  same  rank,  68  lost  in  rank  with  an 
average  loss  of  8  grades,  45  gained  in  rank  with  an  average 
gain  of  6.5  grades.  The  average  change  in  rank  of  all  was 
6.5  grades. 

There  were  62  grades  in  the  first  reproduction,  66  in  the 
second,  and  63  in  the  third.  When  we  reflect  that  if  all  the 
individuals  ranged  in  the  62  grades  of  the  first  reproduction  had 
receded  to  the  same  level  in  the  second,  there  would  have  been 
an  average  change  of  31  grades,  we  see  that  5.4  grades  repre- 
sents comparatively  little  shifting.  Neither  does  the  average 
change  of  6.5  in  the  third  reproduction  indicate  anything  start- 
ling in  the  way  of  readjustment  in  ranking.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  difference  between  two  successive  grades  is 
usuall}^  a  half  unit  out  of  69  possible  units.  Hence  the  average 
shifting  of  from  5.4  to  6.5  grades  means  very  little  difference 
between  the  scores  attained  by  most  individuals  and  the  scores 
that  would  have  preserved  for  them  their  former  rank. 

Determining  more  accurately  by  the  correlation  formula  the 
amount  of  regression  toward  equality  in  the  later  reproductions, 
we  find  : 

Between  scores  in  ideas,  first  and  second  reproductions,  r=  96%,  P.E.  ^  .3%, 

"     "        third  "  r=88%,  P.E.  =   1%. 

In  this  calculation,  the  comparison  took  account  of  relative 
differences  between  the  scores  of  the  various  ranks,  and  the 
amount  of  correlation  is  seen  to  be  even  greater  than  might  be 
supposed  from  the  amount  of  change  in  rank. 

Considering  the  scores  of  the  74  individuals  who  took  part 
in  the  '  Cicero '  test,  we  find  : 

Between  scores  in  ideas,  first  and  second  reproductions,  r  =  87%,  P.E.  =  1.4%, 
"  "      "       "        "     "        third  "  r=  75%,  P.E.  =  2.6%, 

It  is  evident  that  the  lapse  of  two  days  produces  very  little 
change  in  the  relative  amounts  of  the  given  passage  in  the  minds 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  43 

of  the  various  individuals  taking  the  tests.  The  lapse  of  a  month 
doubles  the  discrepancy  between  the  percentage  of  perfect  corre- 
lation and  the  degree  of  correlation  that  actually  exists.  Does 
this  mean  that  the  subjects  who  learned  more  quickly  will  even- 
tually recede  in  their  knowledge  of  the  passage  to  the  rank 
of  those  who  learned  little?  By  no  means.  It  is  true  that,  if 
the  persons  with  scores  above  the  average  had  in  general  gravi- 
tated downward  in  rank,  while  those  below  the  average  had 
climbed  upward,  such  a  regression  to  equal  rank  would  have 
been  indicated.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  The  shifting  in  rank 
is  seen  to  be  to  a  great  extent  among  those  in  various  neighbor- 
hoods, as  it  were,  in  the  roll.  Many  with  good  records  at  first 
get  a  better  standing  in  the  later  reproductions.  So  too,  those 
well  down  on  the  list  often  fall  lower.  In  the  midst  of  this 
heterogeneity  is  there  any  general  tendency  to  regression  or  the 
opposite?  I  do  not  see  how  we  can  tell  by  merely  correlating 
the  actual  scores.  We  may  expect  these  for  a  time  to  approach 
each  other  in  actual  size.  This,  however,  would  not  indicate 
any  tendency  for  them  ultimately  to  become  equal  unless  the 
percentages  of  loss  w^ere  equal.  In  this  case  their  relative  rank 
would  of  course  be  preserved,  while  the  scores  would  approach 
each  other.  If,  however,  the  percentages  of  loss  be  different, 
it  is  evident,  as  we  have  already  noted, ^  that  the  higher  rate  of 
loss,  if  kept  up,  will  bring  the  score  of  the  individual  who  suf- 
fers it  below  that  of  any  other  whose  percentage  of  loss  is  less, 
—  and  this  no  matter  how  great  may  have  been  his  original 
superiority.  It  follows  that,  if  we  wish  to  determine  whether 
the  general  tendency  is  toward  regression  or  the  reverse,  we 
must  correlate  percentages  of  loss  in  the  later  reproductions  with 
the  amounts  of  difference  between  the  standard  scores  and  those 
in  the  first  reproduction. 

^Correlation  of  Percentages  of  Loss  in  Ideas. 

Between  percentages  of  loss  in  ideas, 

first  and  second  reproductions,     r=  i6  per  cent.,  P.E.  =  5.9  per  cent. 
Between   percentages  of  loss  in  ideas, 

first  and  third  reproductions,     r=  19  per  cent.,  P.E.  =  5.9  per  cent. 

The  percentage  was  reduced  in  the  case  of  the  third  repro- 
1  Page  37. 


44  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

duction  largely  because  certain  individuals  who  did  very  poorly 
at  first  retained  all  or  about  all  they  had  gained.  From  being 
at  the  bottom  of  the  scale  in  power  to  learn,  they  are  therefore 
suddenly  elevated  to  the  top  in  power  to  remember.  Such  a 
radical  difference  between  the  abilities  involved  would  seem  ex- 
ceeding unlikely.  What  is  probably  the  explanation  is  that  the 
individuals  in  question  found  such  difficulty  in  reading  and 
understanding  the  passage  that  only  a  few  ideas  could  be 
learned,  and  these  were  so  simple  and  fundamental  in  the  pas- 
sage that  they  were  not  easily  forgotten,  in  fact,  were  forgotten 
by  almost  none  of  those  whose  scores  were  better.  It  is  unfair 
to  our  percentage  of  correlation  to  rank  such  cases  as  at  the  top 
in  power  of  retention.  The  difficulty  created  by  them  can  be 
in  a  great  measure  obviated  by  eliminating  from  the  calculation 
the  scores  of  those  who  learned  less  than  50  per  cent,  of  the 
original  in  the  first  reproduction.  It  will  be  remembered  that  a 
similar  step  was  taken  in  comparing  the  scores  according  to  age. 
We  are  left  with  105  sets  of  scores,  and  the  values  of  r  are  as 
follows : 

Between  rates  of  loss  in  ideas,  first  and 

second  reproductions,     r^  13  per  cent.,  P.E.  =5.4  per  cent. 
Between  rates  of  loss  in  ideas,  first  and 

third  reproductions,     r  =  38  per  cent.,  P.E.  =5.2  per  cent. 

The  positive  values  of  r  indicate  a  constant  tendency  for 
those  who  learn  more  quickly  to  retain  a  greater  percentage  of 
what  they  have  gained.  Moreover,  in  the  third  reproduction 
this  relation  comes  out  more  strongly  than  in  the  second,  indi- 
cating that  the  general  tendency  is  even  more  apparent  with 
lapse  of  time.  We  may  be  justified  in  concluding,  therefore, 
that  the  scores  are  not  tending  toward  the  same  goal,  but  that 
the  majority  of  those  who  have  done  better  in  learning  will  con- 
tinue to  retain  their  advantage. 

Again,  the  elimination  of  the  poorest  scores  does  not  raise 
the  value  of  r  between  the  first  and  the  second  reproductions, 
as  it  does  between  the  first  and  the  third.  On  the  contrary, 
the  reverse  relation  holds. ^     The  main  reason  for  this  is  un- 

^  The  value  of  P.  E.,  however,  makes  the  diflference  of  3  per  cent  insignifi- 
cant. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  45 

questionably  the  much  smaller  average  loss  in  the  second  repro- 
duction. Those  who  lost  nothing  —  or  even  improved^ — on 
their  second  attempt  to  write  out  the  passage  numbered  39, 
about  a  third  of  all ;  while  in  the  third  trial  only  17  retained  all 
they  had  acquired.  The  poor  learners  who  remembered  all 
had,  therefore,  much  less  effect  on  the  value  of  r  for  first  and 
second  reproductions ;  and  their  influence  was  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  effect  of  the  very  considerable  forget- 
fulness  that  some  of  the  poorer  ones  displayed  on  this  occasion. 
Taking  independently  the  various  classes  of  subjects  that 
took  part  in  test  i,  we  get  the  value  of  r  between  the  rates  of 
loss  in  ideas  in  the  first  and  third  reproductions. 

S.  S.  students,  r—.  14.5  per  cent.,  P.  B.  =  15  per  cent. 
P.  S.  7B  pupils,  r  =  57.8  percent.,  P.  E.  =  8.4  per  cent. 
P.  S.  6B  pupils,  r=   4     per  cent.,  P.  E.  =  10  per  cent. 

Omitting  those  scoring  less  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  standard  in 
the  first  reproduction, 

P.  S.  6B  pupils,  r  =  35  percent.,     P.  E.  =  9  per  cent. 

Two  important  features  may  be  noted  here  :  the  great  ad- 
vance in  the  percentage  of  correlation  with  P.  S.  6B  pupils  when 
the  four  who  fell  below  50  per  cent,  in  the  first  records  were 
eliminated;  and  the  excellent  percentage  shown  by  P.  S.  7B 
pupils  as  contrasted  with  that  of  S.  S.  students.  The  first  of 
these  points  need  not  be  discussed  further.  We  see  clearly  the 
importance  of  having  all  subjects  able  to  read  and  understand 
the  passage.  The  excellence  of  the  correlation  in  the  case  of 
P.  S.  7B  pupils  is  undoubtedly  to  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that 
few  of  them  had  these  difficulties  that  swamped  a  number  in 
lower  grades,  and  also  to  the  general  uniformity  in  training  and 
other  conditions  that  prevailed  there.  The  poorness  of  the  cor- 
relation with  S.  S.  students  is  doubtless  due  to  the  fewness  of 
the  cases,  and  to  the  great  diversity  among  the  students.  The 
classes  contained  both  sexes,  and  the  age  ranged  from  young 
manhood  and  womanhood  to  middle  life.     The  training  too  was 

1  Those  who  did  better  in  their  later  papers  were  treated  as  having  forgot- 
ten nothing.  No  negative  losses  (positive  gains)  were  considered.  Their  in- 
troduction would  have  complicated  the  calculations,  and  such  gains  as  appeared 
were  slight,  and  can  be  neglected  without  serious  error.     (See  table  of  results. ) 


4^  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

very  diverse.  Some  were  college  graduates,  others  not ;  and 
■while  all  were  teachers,  they  represented  all  ranks  in  the  pro- 
fession from  teachers  in  the  primary  grades  to  a  college  pro- 
fessor. It  would  have  been  highly  desirable,  however,  to  have 
got  enough  such  cases  to  have  made  certain  whether  or  not  the 
percentage  given  is  the  average  even  for  subjects  thus  diverse 
in  character.  My  opinion  is  that  r  is  here  too  low,  and  that  it 
should,  as  elsewhere,  range  in  the  neighborhood  of  40  per  cent. 
A  consideration  of  the  papers  of  all  classes  taking  test  2 
yields  the  following  results  : 

Between  rates  of  loss  iu  ideas,  first  and 

second  reproductions,     ^  =  4    percent.,  P.  E.  =  9  per  cent. 
Between  rates  of  loss  in  ideas,  first  and 

third  reproductions,     r=  36  per  cent.,  P.  E.  ^8  per  cent. 

Here  again,  it  will  be  noted,  the  loss  between  the  first  and 
second  reproductions  does  not  correlate  significantly  with  the 
original  loss.  Why  should  the  second  reproduction  fail  to 
bring  out  the  relation  apparent  in  the  third?  Two  explanations 
might  be  given.  First,  it  might  be  thought  that  certain  indi- 
viduals in  the  class  discussed  the  passage  in  the  interval.  Such 
discussion  would  probably  come,  if  it  came  at  all,  immediately 
after  the  first  experiment,  while  the  matter  had  the  freshness  of 
novelty.  Its  effect  might  very  well  be  to  fix  certain  parts  much 
better  in  the  minds  of  the  poorer  students.  In  many  cases  they 
might  discover  mistakes  and  fill  in  gaps  in  their  earlier  notions 
of  the  contents  of  the  passage.  The  second  reproduction, 
coming  close  after  these  discussions,  would  profit  by  them.  If 
the  discussions  were  general  the  poorer  pupils  would  gain  most 
and  the  better  ones  least  from  them,  and  one  might  expect  no 
correlation  between  the  losses  in  the  two  reproductions,  or  in- 
deed, an  inverse  relation. 

According  to  this  explanation  our  values  of  r  between  the 
first  and  second  reproductions  are  far  too  small  to  indicate  the 
truth  about  the  relation  we  are  seeking.  Moreover,  if  discus- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  subjects  affected  the  third  reproduction, 
there  too  r  should  be  similarly  wrong.  However,  we  may  sup- 
pose that  the  interval  of  a  month  would  enable  the  relative  abili- 
ties of  the  various  subjects  again  to  assert  themselves,  so  that 


A    STUDY   OF  MEMORY.  47 

the  true  relation  would  be  more  manifest  than  before.  That  the 
longer  interval  enables  the  memory  to  show  more  clearly  its 
defects  and  excellencies  we  cannot  question.  The  third  repro- 
duction is,  therefore,  undoubtedly  a  better  basis  for  determining 
the  relative  amount  of  forgetting  than  the  second. 

I  have  already  indicated  my  belief  that  the  subjects  gained 
very  little  from  mutual  discussion.^  The  fact  that  some  did 
better  in  the  second  than  in  the  first  reproduction  is  not  evidence 
that  they  got  additional  information  from  others,  any  more  than 
the  ability  to  call  up  something  that  on  a  previous  occasion 
could  not  be  remembered  is  evidence  that  one  has  in  the  mean- 
while consulted  an  authority  in  regard  to  it.  Immediately  after 
studying  the  passage  certain  parts  might  be  omitted  because  the 
attention  does  not  get  turned  toward  them  when  the  reproduc- 
tion is  made.  The  accident  of  the  moment  may  bring  them  to 
the  front  later.  Often  the  later  reproductions  indicate  a  better 
perspective  in  regard  to  the  thought  of  the  passage  as  a  whole 
than  do  the  earlier  ones,  where  the  details  and  the  expression 
absorb  much  of  the  attention.  Such  a  birdseye  view  may  seize 
on  phases  of  thought  that  are  crowded  out  of  the  earlier  papers. 
A  study  of  the  gains  of  later  papers  will  convince  one  that  such 
explanations  as  I  have  just  offered  will  account  for  them  far 
better  than  the  hypothesis  of  intervening  discussion.  At  any 
rate,  we  may  be  sure  that  correlation  percentages  were  very 
little  affected  by  it.  The  smallness  of  r  in  the  case  of  rates  of 
loss  in  the  first  and  second  reproductions,  I  account  for  by  the 
notion  that  the  general  loss  was  so  small  with  the  second  paper 
that  what  might  be  called  accidental  forgetfulness  had  an  unus- 
ually large  influence.  Where  amounts  of  loss  are  slight,  dif- 
ferences in  them  due  to  the  mood  of  the  subject,  his  physical 
health  for  the  day  or  the  hour,  accidental  disturbances  of  the 
attention,  etc.,  count  for  much.  These  differences  are  in  the 
later  reproduction  swamped  in  the  greater  loss  that  is  the  normal 
result  of  the  longer  lapse  of  time.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fact 
that  some  correlation  prevails  between  the  losses  in  the  two 
earlier  papers  is  significant  of  the  truth  of  the  principle  that 
those  who  learn  quickest  usually  remember  best. 

^  See  page  28. 


•48  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  scores  in  the  first  reproduction 
correlated  better  with  those  in  the  second  than  with  those  in  the 
third.  This  may  seem  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  with  per- 
centages of  loss  the  higher  value  of  r  lies  between  the  first  and 
third  reproductions.  There  is,  however,  no  contradiction.  An 
individual  who  did  poorly  at  first  might  later  remember  all  he 
had  learned.  Such  a  case  would  reduce  decidedly  correlations 
based  on  percentages  of  loss.  He  might,  however,  easily  retain 
his  rank  in  the  list  of  scores,  especially  in  that  of  the  second 
reproduction  where  the  amount  of  loss  is  in  general  small.  In 
the  later  paper  the  rank  would  be  more  likely  to  be  affected, 
because  the  greater  general  loss  would  probably  result  in  send- 
ing him  up  the  list.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  rates 
of  loss  in  the  second  reproduction,  although  they  correlate  poorly 
with  those  in  the  first,  are  on  the  average  so  small  that  they  are 
swamped  by  the  general  size  of  the  scores  ;  while  in  the  third 
reproduction  the  rates  of  loss,  though  more  in  harmony  with 
those  of  the  first  reproduction,  are  yet  sufficiently  divergent  and 
sufficiently  large  to  modify  the  ranking  considerably. 

Correlation  of  Rates  of  Loss  tn    Words. 

In  regard  to  words,  I  have  calculated  only  two  correlation 
percentages,  one  making  use  of  all  the  test  papers  in  test  i,  the 
other  based  on  all  the  papers  of  test  2.  I  have  compared  the 
losses  in  the  first  reproduction  with  those  in  the  third  only,  re- 
garding this  as  the  more  significant  value.  The  following 
values  of  r  were  obtained  : 

Between  rates  of  loss  in  words,  first  and  third  repro- 
ductions,    test  I,  r^     .88  per  cent. 

Between  rates  of  loss  in  words,  first  and  third  repro- 
ductions,    test  2,  r=  25      percent. 
P.  E.  =   8.5  percent. 

The  lack  of  correlation  in  the  case  of  test  i  is  striking.  The 
percentage  is  improved  by  eliminating  the  fifteen  subjects  who 
stood  lowest  in  rank  in  ideas.  These  are  with  two  exceptions 
the  lowest  in  rank  in  words.  The  result  of  this  calculation 
gives 

r=  16.6  per  cent.,  P.  E.  =6.5  per  cent. 


A    STUDY   OF  MEMORY.  49 

• 

The  powers  of  learning  and  retaining  words  do  not  go  so 
well  together,  it  would  seem,  as  do  those  of  learning  and  of  re- 
taining ideas.  16.6  per  cent,  as  against  38  per  cent,  in  test  i, 
and  25  per  cent,  as  against  36  per  cent,  in  test  2,  are  -vtalues 
of  r  fairly  convincing  on  this  point.  However,  it  must  be  kept 
in  mind  that  by  many  the  words  were  learned  rather  inciden- 
tally. All  tried  their  best  on  ideas.  If  little  attention  w^ere 
given  to  the  words  the  amount  of  the  score  would  be  largely 
dependent  on  the  accidents  of  expression.  Many  of  those  who 
learned  and  remembered  well  departed  considerably  from  the 
words  of  the  original.  Many  poor  in  both  these  functions  did 
likewise.  Those  who  retained  expressions  quite  literally  could 
also  be  found  scattered  among  both  the  good  and  the  poor  in  re- 
membering ideas.  On  the  supposition  that  accident  determined, 
in  the  case  of  those  who  made  no  great  effort  to  be  literal,  whether 
the  words  of  the  original  were  used  or  not,  we  conclude  that  its 
effects  would  be  found  in  the  papers  of  both  the  superior  and 
the  inferior  minds.  Distributed  in  this  impartial  way,  it  reduced 
the  percentage  of  correlation.  That  the  memory  for  words  is 
doubtless  weaker  with  most  people  than  the  memory  for  ideas, 
is  an  additional  reason  for  supposing  accident  to  be  influential 
in  determining  the  score  in  words. 


Comparison  of  Re  stilts  in    Tests  j,  ^  and  5. 

So  far  we  have  discussed  the  results  of  tests  i  and  2.  The 
other  tests  offer  an  opportunity  for  comparing  the  relative  abil- 
ities of  a  number  of  individuals  in  different  classes  of  material. 
Twelve  students  gave  me  complete  sets  of  papers  in  all  these 
three  tests.  If  w^e  correlate  their  ranking  in  the  different  tests 
we  get  the  following  rough  values  of  r : 

Ranking  in  Scores  of  First  Reproductions. 

'The  History  of  the  Jews  '  and  'The  Dutch  Homestead,'         r  =  6i  per  cent. 

'  The  History  of  the  Jews '  and  '  The  Stages  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  Human  Theory,'  ^  =  85  per  cent. 

*  The  Dutch  Homestead '  and  '  The  Stages  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  Human  Theory,'  r=5o  per  cent. 


50  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

Ranking  in  Percentages  of  Loss,  Third  Reproductions. 

'  The  History  of  the  Jews  '  and  '  The  Dutch  Homestead,'        r  =  —  25  per  cent. 

'  The  History  of  the  Jews  '  and  '  The  Stages  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  Human  Theory,'  r  =  54  per  cent. 

'  The  Dutch  Homestead  '  and  '  The  Stages  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  Human  Theory,'  ?'==  —  9  per  cent. 

In  the  first  reproduction  a  decided  tendency  for  those  who 
did  well  in  one  passage  to  do  well  in  the  others  is  evident. 
Especially  is  this  relation  close  in  the  learning  of  the  passages 
on  the  Jews  and  Comte's  philosophy.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  only  between  these  two  tests  is  there  any  significant  corre- 
lation in  regard  to  power  to  retain  what  was  learned.  An  ex- 
amination of  the  matter  of  the  tests  will  suggest  the  reason. 
Tests  3  and  5  deal  with  abstractions  as  contrasted  with  test  4 
('  The  Dutch  Homestead  ').  Wide  reading  and  philosophical 
study  would  be  apt  to  help  one  in  learning  and  remembering 
tests  3  and  5,  while  they  would  be  of  little  value  with  test  4. 

Effect  0/  Method  of  Learning  on  the  Results. 

To  the  undergraduates  of  Columbia  College  I  gave  test  3 
by  simply  reading  it  to  them  slowly,  asking  for  a  reproduction 
as  nearly  literal  as  possible.  Examining  their  record,  we  see 
that  they  did  a  little  worse  than  the  graduate  students  who  had 
the  longer  period  for  learning.  That  they  did  so  well  com- 
paratively, is  evidence  of  the  great  importance  of  the  first  read- 
ing of  a  passage  as  compared  with  repetitions.  The  percentages 
of  loss  in  the  later  reproductions  indicate  that  the  longer  period 
is  about  equally  valuable  for  fixing  the  ideas  and  words  and  for 
enabling  a  more  complete  immediate  reproduction. 

A  comparison  of  the  ranking  in  the  first  reproduction  of  the 
18  individuals  who  took  both  tests  2  and  3  shows  a  correlation 
of  about  37  per  cent.  When  we  correlate  rank  in  percentages 
of  loss  in  the  third  reproduction,  r  =  34  per  cent.  It  is  probable 
that  the  different  conditions  of  giving  the  two  tests  were  largely 
responsible  for  the  smallness  of  these  values  as  compared  with 
those  obtained  from  the  graduate  students  in  the  most  favorable 
cases. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  5 1 

Comparison  of  Standing  in  Tests  with  Teacher'' s  Marks. 

For  two  classes  of  E.  H.  S.  students  and  the  pupils  in  P. 
S.  No.  40,  I  obtained  estimates  of  class  standing  from  the 
teachers  in  charge.  The  12  E.  H.  S.  8B  students  were  put  in 
three  grades.  The  3  who  were  put  in  grade  I.  stood  first,  fourth 
and  seventh  in  the  first  reproduction  of  my  test.  The  2  who 
were  put  in  grade  III.  stood  fifth  and  tenth  in  these  papers.  The 
correspondence  between  my  records  and  the  estimates  of  the 
teacher  was,  therefore,  rather  small.  The  rank  of  E.  H.  S.  lA 
students  in  the  test  corresponded  much  more  closely  to  the 
teacher's  marking.  Thirteen  were  put  by  the  teacher  in  the  same 
section  of  the  class  as  that  to  which  my  records  assigned  them. 
The  test  records  advanced  5  one  grade,  reduced  4  one  grade, 
and  I  two  grades.  The  class  was  in  history,  and  it  is,  there- 
fore, likely  that  excellence  in  memory  would  play  a  great  part 
in  determining  standard  of  scholarship. 

With  the  P.  S.  No.  40  pupils  the  following  results  appear: 
The  20  best  P.  S.  7B  pupils  were  graded  seriatim  by  the 
teacher,  the  others  ranked  as  in  grade  21.  Grading  them  simi- 
larly according  to  their  rank  in  my  test  I  find  that :  Six  retained 
the  same  rank  ;  24  gained  in  rank  (average  gain  =  8.3  grades) ; 
13  lost  in  rank  (average  loss  =  9  grades) ;  average  change  in 
rank  of  total  =  33.7  grades.  Between  the  two  rankings  the 
value  of  r  =  13  per  cent.,  P.  E.  =  11  per  cent. 

The  pupils  in  P.  S.  6B  were  graded  seriatim  by  the  teacher. 
Two  taking  part  in  my  test  were  omitted  in  this  grading.  The 
comparisons  follow  :  One  retained  the  same  rank  ;  22  gained  in 
rank  (average  gain  =  10.9  grades) ;  18  lost  in  rank  (average  loss 
=  12.8  grades) ;  average  change  in  rank  of  the  total  41  =  11.5 
grades  ;  between  the  two  rankings  the  value  of  r  =  22  percent., 
P.  E.  =  9  +  per  cent. ;  P.  S.  5B  pupils  were  graded  seriatim ; 
16  gained  in  rank  (average  gain  5.7  grades);  11  lost  in  rank 
(average  loss  8.3  grades) ;  average  change  in  rank  of  total  27, 
6.8  grades.  Between  the  two  rankings  the  value  of  r  =  44  per 
cent.,  P.  E.  =  10  per  cent. 

The  percentage  of  correlation  is  here  sufficiently  great  to 
warrant  saying   that  there  is   a  tendency  for  the  marking  of 


52  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

teachers  to  correspond  to  the  ability  to  learn  quickly.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  tendency  is  evidently  greatly  interfered  with, 
and  doubtless  by  such  factors  as  good  conduct,  application  and 
reasoning  power  of  the  child,  all  of  which  are  at  least  partially 
independent  of  the  power  involved  in  my  test. 

I  have  not  discussed  the  relation  between  teachers'  marks 
and  rank  in  the  power  to  retain.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  a  glance 
at  the  data  indicates  that  the  correspondence  is  much  less  than 
between  the  marks  and  power  to  learn  quickly.  It  is  likely 
that  the  day-by-day  impressions  are  the  dominant  ones  in  deter- 
mining the  judgment  of  the  teacher,  and  these  are  dependent 
on  such  powers  as  are  evinced  best  in  the  first  reproduction. 

It  is  notable  that  the  teacher's  ranking  was  by  the  majority 
improved  in  my  tests.  Fifty-three  gained  in  rank  while  only 
forty-one  lost.  On  the  other  hand,  the  average  rank  gained 
was  less  than  that  lost.  This  would  seem  to  suggest  that  special 
performances,  or  certain  excellencies  of  conduct  had  bettered 
the  standing  of  manypupils  with  the  teacher.  Such  individuals 
suffered  loss  of  rank  in  the  tests.  There  were  few  of  them, 
and  they  lost  more,  while  the  unnoted  members  of  the  class,  or, 
perhaps,  the  lazy  or  troublesome,  had  a  chance  to  be  graded  on 
mere  ability  and  rose  in  rank  in  consequence. 

Summary  of  Conclusions  on  Amounts  of  Loss  in  the  Various 

Tests. 

The  conclusions  reached  so  far  have  been  largely  quantita- 
tive, relating  to  the  amounts  of  loss  in  the  various  cases  rather 
than  to  its  character.     They  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  : 

1.  The  total  scores  of  the  various  classes  in  all  reproduc- 
tions and  in  both  ideas  and  words  tend  to  increase  from  the 
lower  grades  to  the  more  advanced  ones. 

2.  There  seems  to  be  a  slight  increase  in  power  to  learn  as 
we  go  from  younger  to  older  students.  The  evidence  indicates 
that  this  increase  is  probably  wholly  dependent  on  greater  abil- 
ity to  read  and  understand  the  passages.  The  older  students 
do  not  remember  a  greater  percentage  of  what  they  have 
learned.  Training  would,  therefore,  seem  to  affect  more  the 
power  to  learn  than  the  power  to  retain. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  53 

3.  Those  who  learn  quickest  retain  in  general  a  greater  per- 
centage of  what  they  have  learned.  This  holds  true  of  the 
percentages  remembered  in  both  the  second  and  third  reproduc- 
tions, but  the  rule  comes  out  more  clearly  in  the  latter  case  than 
in  the  former.  The  same  law  holds  between  power  to  learn  and 
to  retain  words,  although  the  percentage  of  correlation  is  not 
so  great  as  with  ideas. 

4.  Individuals  tend  to  keep  the  same  rank  in  power  to  learn 
in  the  various  tests.  In  power  to  retain  the  ranking  was  more 
widely  variant.  When  the  material  of  the  two  tests  was  simi- 
lar it  corresponded  to  a  significant  extent. 

5.  A  single  reading  with  concentrated  attention  seems  nearly 
as  effective  in  enabling  an  immediate  reproduction  of  one  of 
these  passages  as  is  three  minutes  of  study.  The  longer  pe- 
riod, however,  seems  more  effective  in  increasing  the  percentages 
both  of  words  and  ideas  retained. 

6.  Teachers'  marks  in  grammar  grades  correlate  only  to  a 
small  extent  with  the  ranking  in  the  tests.  In  a  higher  grade, 
however,  where  the  subject  demanded  powers  like  those  tested, 
the  correspondence  was  found  to  be  close. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  consider  the  changes  in  the  character 
of  the  material  in  the  later  reproductions. 

B.    Character  of  the  Changes  in  the  Later  Reproductions. 

The  investigation  of  the  fortunes  of  the  various  factors  that 
enter  into  our  experience  in  the  subsequent  history  of  our  con- 
sciousness, if  an  almost  hopeless,  is  at  least  a  fascinating  occu- 
pation. Certainly  most  of  our  purposes  in  education  are  dominated 
by  our  theories  in  regard  to  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  waters  upon 
which  we  as  teachers  cast  our  bread.  If  we  are  to  test  at  all 
the  accuracy  of  these  theories,  to  penetrate  in  the  least  into  the 
complexity  of  the  modifications  that  memory  imposes  upon  our 
ideas,  we  must,  of  course,  be  content,  at  any  rate  in  the  early 
stages  of  investigation,  with  examining  small  patches  of  experi- 
ence with  a  view  toward  ascertaining  the  history  of  the  definite 
cultures  planted  therein.  The  reproductions  that  I  have  obtained 
are  an  approximation,  I  take  it,  to  a  cross-section  revelation  of 
successive  conditions  in  the  minds  of  the  various  individuals 
tested  with  reference  to  the  passages  in  question.     By  compar- 


54  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

ing  these  reproductions,  therefore,  we  should  be  able  to  ascer- 
tain what  the  fate  of  individual  ideas  may  be,  and  the  effect  of 
their  destinies  upon  the  general  character  of  the  thought  of  the 
whole  passage  involved. 

I  have  approached  these  complicated  matters  from  four  direc- 
tions, gathering  a  little  contributory  information  from  each  study. 
In  the  first  place,  an  examination  of  the  words,  the  underscoring 
of  which  indicated  the  confidence  of  the  subject  that  they  oc- 
curred in  the  original,  throws  some  light  on  the  changes  in 
thought  that  accompany  changes  in  the  power  to  recognize. 
Secondly,  the  study  of  answers  to  certain  questionnaires  that  I 
submitted  to  the  graduate  students  on  the  occasion  of  their  third 
attempt  at  reproducing  the  various  passages,  revealed  to  me 
the  method  by  which  their  thought  regarding  the  contents  of  the 
passages  unfolded  at  that  time.  The  third  study  involved  the 
comparison  of  the  amounts  of  forgetting  of  the  detailed  ideas 
and  of  the  topics  and  the  subtopics  into  which  the  thought  of 
the  passages  was  analyzed.  Last  and  most  suggestive  of  all 
was  the  investigation  into  the  specific  history  of  detailed  ideas 
and  of  topics  from  reproduction  to  reproduction.  Such  a  study 
might  be  carried  on  almost  indefinitely,  and  I  can  only  claim  to 
have  continued  it  far  enough  to  be  able  to  formulate  roughly 
the  leading  kinds  of  modification  that  the  memories  evince. 

/.  Recognized   Words. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  graduate  and  college  stu- 
dents and  those  in  the  summer  session  underscored  in  the 
second  and  third  reproductions  the  words  which  they  were  con- 
fident had  occurred  in  the  original.  With  the  college  students 
this  was  imperfectly  done,  depending  apparently  on  whether  the 
student  felt  inclined  to  use  the  time  and  effort  to  proceed  to  the 
task  of  judging  how  he  felt  regarding  words.  In  fact,  the 
omission  of  any  scoring  cannot  be  taken  even  with  graduate 
students  as  a  certain  indication  that  no  words  were  recognized. 

The  following  table  indicates  the  results  with  S.  S.  students. 
They  are  typical  of  the  others  : 


A   STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  S5 

Underscored  Words.    S.  S.  Students.    Test  i. 


Rank  in 

Rec.  W,' 

Mistakes 

Rec.  W. 

Mistakes 

Rec.  W. 

Mistakes 

Mistakes  3d 

ist  Rep. 

2d. 

2d. 

3d. 

3d. 

2d  &  3d. 

2d  &  3d. 

used  2d. 

Z 

69 

12 

66 

12 

44 

9 

I 

2 

56 

23 

38 

16 

32 

9 

7 

3 

65 

28 

69 

26 

48 

13 

3 

4 

61 

ID 

46 

8 

39 

4 

I 

5 

50 

30 

21 

13 

16 

8 

I 

6 

18 

9 

13 

9 

12 

3 

0 

7 

35 

8 

29 

9 

28 

0 

I 

8 

26 

15 

8 

3 

8 

2 

0 

9 

— 

— 

15 

2 

— 

— 

2 

lO 

3 

4 

6 

3 

3 

3 

0 

II 

20 

4 

II 

I 

9 

0 

0 

12 

67 

18 

56 

29 

49 

9 

5 

13 

22 

12 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

14 

14 

2 

8 

2 

6 

I 

0 

15 

27 

31 

5 

10 

5 

7 

2 

i6 

4 

2 

16 

13 

4 

0 

5 

17 

17 

6 

20 

15 

14 

5 

6 

Totals, 

554 

214 

427 

171 

317 

73 

34 

A  large  part  of  the  variety  shown  by  the  various  scores  in- 
dicates not  so  much  differences  in  ability  to  recognize,  as  dif- 
ferent standards  in  regard  to  the  degree  of  familiarity  that  war- 
rants the  underscoring  of  the  word.  Certain  common  features 
appear  in  the  total  scores  of  every  class  involved. 

1.  More  underscoring  in  the  second  than  in  the  third  repro- 
duction. It  will  be  noted,  however,  that  this  rule  has  excep- 
tions in  the  case  of  individual  records. 

2.  Greater  percentage  of  errors  in  the  judgments  in  the  third 
reproduction.  This  rule  was  far  more  apparent  with  the  grad- 
uate students  than  in  the  table  given.  It  will  be  seen  to  hold  for 
most  of  the  individuals  in  that  table,  however. 

3.  Of  the   correctly  underscored  words  a  far  larger  per- 

1  The  meaning  of  the  scores  is  as  follows :  J^ec.  W.  2d,  words  accurately 
recognized,  2d  reproduction.  Mistakes  2d,  words  not  in  the  original  but 
underscored,  2d  reproduction.  Rec.  IV.  3d,  words  accurately  recognized,  3d 
reproduction.  Mistakes  3d,  words  not  in  the  original  but  underscored,  3d  repro- 
duction. Rec.  W.  2d  and  3d,  words  accurately  recognized  in  both  2d  and  3d 
reproductions.  Mistakes  2d  and  3d,  words  not  in  the  original  but  underscored 
in  both  2d  and  3d  reproductions.  Mistakes  3d  used  2d,  words  not  in  the 
original,  used  in  2d  reproduction  but  not  underscored,  underscored,  3d  repro- 
duction. 


56 


E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


centage  is  identical  in  the  two  reproductions  than  of  those  in- 
correctly underscored. 

4.  The  errors  are  less  frequent  than  the  correct  judgments. 
This  rule  is  not  without  exxeptions,  as  will  be  seen,  in  indi- 
vidual cases. 

5.  In  general,  those  who  remembered  better  seemed  to  un- 
derscore a  little  more  freely,  although  not  more  correctly,  than 
those  who  remembered  worse. 

These  results  are  such  as  we  might  expect.  They  indicate 
that  with  the  lapse  of  time  there  is  less  feeling  of  certainty  in 
regard  to  the  words,  and  more  actual  error  in  judging  them. 
Also  the  words  correctly  underscored  remain  to  a  greater  ex- 
tent the  same  in  both  reproductions,  while  the  erroneous  judg- 
ments concern  words  more  than  half  of  which  are  different  in 
the  two  cases.  We  may  infer  that  with  the  lapse  of  time  the 
false  judgments  would  come  to  surpass  in  number  the  correct 
ones,  partly  because  of  forgetfulness  of  the  original  words, 
partly  because  new  words,  once  introduced,  would  tend  to  be- 
come familiar  and  eventually  regarded  as  part  of  the  original 
text.  In  this  connection  the  last  column  of  the  table  is  inter- 
esting. 

If  we  compare  the  number  of  words  correctly  underscored 
with  the  number  occurring  in  the  original  text  that  are  actually 
used,  we  obtain  the  following  results.  The  scores  indicate 
averages  per  individual. 

Words  Correctly    Words  of  the 


Underscored. 

Original  Use 

a. 

"S.  S.  students, 

2d  reproduction. 

32.5 

59 

55  per  cent 

<i 

3d 

25 

52 

48 

( 

Graduates, 

Test  3, 

2d 

8.2 

38 

22 

( 

((         (( 

3d 

9-3 

29 

32 

( 

"     4, 

2d 

24.4 

67 

36 

( 

<<     (( 

3d 

18 

52-5 

34 

( 

"     5, 

2d 

12 

39 

32 

1 

i(     (( 

3d 

8.2 

24-5 

33 

( 

The  difference  between  the  number  of  words  of  the  original 
used  and  that  underscored  can  not  be  satisfactorily  accounted 
for  by  supposing  a  tendency  to  underscore  only  striking  and 
important  words,  leaving  out  conjunctions,  prepositions,  articles, 
etc.     While  this  explanation  has  some  significance,  it  must  also 


A    STUDY  OF'  MEMORY.  57 

be  said  that  those  who  underscored  freely  marked  whole  sen- 
tences, clauses  or  phrases.  Hence  only  with  the  less  confident, 
who  have  small  scores,  is  the  ratio  in  question  affected  by  the 
failure  to  underscore  less  striking  words.  When  we  compare 
individuals,  we  note  that  the  number  of  correct  recognitions 
seems  only  in  the  most  general  way  related  to  the  number  of 
original  words  actually  used.  The  relation  is  little  if  any  more 
significant  than  that  between  rank  in  correct  underscoring  and 
that  in  number  of  ideas  reproduced.  In  the  second  reproduc- 
tion No.  12  among  S.  S.  students  out  of  69  original  words  used 
recognizes  67.  No.  10  recognizes  only  3  out  of  47.  Ability  to 
remember  ideas  or  to  use  the  words  of  the  original  does  not 
correlate  to  any  significant  extent  with  confident  and  accurate 
underscoring. 

What  are  we  to  say  in  general  about  this  power  of  recogni- 
tion? At  best  it  is  evidently  uncertain,  and  it  grows  worse 
with  lapse  of  time.  But  while  the  percentage  of  errors  in 
underscored  words  varies  in  the  tests  from  9  per  cent,  to  28  per 
cent,  of  the  total  underscored  in  the  second  reproduction,  and 
from  20  to  30  per  cent,  of  this  in  the  third,  the  words  thus 
erroneously  '  recognized '  with  but  few  exceptions  represent 
accurately  enough  the  thought.  It  is  plain  that  the  feeling  of 
familiarity  with  the  thought  has  overspread  the  attitude  toward 
the  words  used  to  express  it.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  an 
increasing  loss  of  confidence,  a  decrease  in  the  amount  of 
'  feeling  of  recognition,'  and  this  in  turn  is  justified  by  the 
increasing  inaccuracy  in  the  underscoring,  and  by  the  disap- 
pearance from  the  reproductions  of  many  more  of  the  original 
words.  We  note  how  closely  the  ratios  of  correct  underscorings 
to  original  words  used  keep  to  each  other  in  the  second  and 
third  reproductions.^  The  loss  of  confidence  and  the  change  in 
expression  are  doubtless  due  to  the  same  cause,  and  this  cause 
is  evidently  a  change  in  the  relations  between  the  thought  ele- 
ments that  enter  into  the  passages,  rather  than  a  disappear- 
ance of  these.  What  is  the  nature  of  this  change?  Some 
light  will  be  thrown  upon  it  by  the  testimony  of  the  students 
themselves. 

1  Compare  table,  page  55. 


58  E.  N.   HENDERSON. 

2.   Accounts  of  Introspection  of  Graduate  Students. 

The  graduate  students  were  allowed  to  make  at  leisure  the 
third  reproduction  of  the  passages  submitted  to  them.  At  the 
same  time  they  were  asked  to  note  the  course  of  their  thought  as 
they  endeavored  to  recall  the  contents  of  these  passages.  The 
following  directions  were  given  them  with  a  view  toward  ren- 
dering their  reports  more  congruous  and  definite. 

1.  Recall  the  sketch  of  The  History  of  the  Jews  ^  that  you 
memorized,  noting  the  contents  of  your  minds  as  you  attempt  to 
get  a  complete  account.     Note  : 

{a)  Where  images  of  sight  occur  in  recall.  Indicate  their 
character. 

{h)  Where  a  '  feeling '  of  the  contents  enters  in.  Indicate 
as  far  as  you  can  its  nature,  and  in  what  form,  words  or  phrase 
it  first  takes  definite  shape. 

(c)  Where  you  hesitate  and  reason  out  what  should  enter  in. 
Indicate  the  line  of  reasoning  and  whether  you  are  confident 
that  your  results  correctly  reproduce  the  original. 

{d^  In  what  order  the  various  words  and  phrases  make  their 
appearance. 

Make  the  record  a  running  sketch  of  the  progress  of  your 
thought  as  you  endeavor  to  get  as  complete  and  literal  an  ac- 
count as  you  can  of  the  passage. 

2.  Write  as  good  a  record  as  you  can  of  the  contents  of  the 
passage,  getting  the  thought  and  where  possible  the  words. 
Underscore  the  words  which  you  are  confident  occurred  in  the 
original. 

3.  To  what  extent,  if  at  all,  have  you  thought  about  the 
passage  between  the  first  and  the  second  reproductions,  and 
between  the  second  and  last  ones? 

As  the  method  of  study  was  by  reading  typewritten  copies 
of  the  passages,  visual  images  of  these,  I  thought,  might  play 
a  prominent  part  in  the  recall.  Of  the  eighteen  individuals  who 
reported  their  experience  in  recalling  the  passage  on  '  The  His- 
tory of  the  Jews,'  ten  mention  the  image  of  the  appearance  of 
the  paper,  and  many  picture  a  number  of  words  written  thereon. 

'  For  the  other  tests  the  other  titles  are  to  be  substituted. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  $9 

Six  report  visual  images  connected  with  the  thought  of  the 
passage,  as  of  Babylon,  Palestine,  armies,  people  wandering 
about  in  Palestine,  etc.  Four  make  no  report  of  visual 
imagery.  In  the  case  of  the  passage  on  '  The  Dutch  Home- 
stead,' fourteen  out  of  fifteen  report  visual  images  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  house.  One  alone  pictured  the  words,  and  he 
only  to  a  slight  extent  as  compared  with  his  experience  with  the 
former  passage.  Two  note  the  absence  of  the  images  of  print- 
ing, etc.,  noticed  before.  In  the  case  of  the  third  passage,  on 
Comte's  philosophical  ideas  of  the  evolution  of  theories,  four 
out  of  fourteen  report  visual  images  of  the  paper,  etc.  None 
report  any  other  pictures,  and  five  note  the  absence  of  visual 
imagery. 

We  have  here,  from  the  point  of  view  of  recall,  two  types 
of  images.  One,  that  picturing  the  paper,  etc.,  reproduces  the 
original  situation  of  learning,  with  a  view  to  recalling  its  asso- 
ciates ;  the  other  reproduces  the  visual  aspects  of  the  meaning 
of  the  passages.  One  person  reports  an  absence  of  images,  but 
instead  a  sense  of  muscular  adjustment,  strain  of  attention,  etc., 
which  was  supposed  to  be  similar  to  that  which  accompanied 
the  learning  of  the  passages.  Here^  we  have  that  mental  atti- 
tude which,  as  I  have  before  indicated,  constitutes  the  vaguest, 
most  general  clue  to  the  recall  of  any  definite  group  of  ideas. 
With  one  subject  it  involved  the  image  of  Irving's  '  Sketch 
Book,'  with  another  that  of  an  earlier  time  when  the  story  was 
read. 

Starting  from  this  general  attitude  of  attention  like  that 
when  the  -passage  was  learned  with  its  accompanying  imagery 
of  paper  or  what  not,  the  next  ordinary  feature  in  the  recall 
seems  to  be  the  thought  of  the  meaning  of  the  passage.  This 
is  introduced  commonly  by  a  vague,  often  inarticulate  sense  of 
some  peculiar  feature  of  the  thought  as  a  whole.  In  the  case 
of  '  The  History  of  the  Jews,'  it  expresses  itself  with  various  in- 
dividuals as  a  feeling  of  '  reverses  of  fortune,'  '  a  struggling 
people,'  *  balanced  parts,'  '  harassed  people,'  '  an  outline  of 
Jewish  history  divided  into  distinct  episodes,'  etc.  In  the  recall 
of  '  The  Dutch  Homestead,'  this  second  stage  seems  with  most 

'See  p.  24. 


6o  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

to  be  properly  represented  by  the  picture  of  the  house.  Gen- 
eral '  feelings  of  content '  here  are  absent,  or  are  confined  to  a 
sense  of  the  comfort,  efficiency,  etc.,  that  characterizes  the  life 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  '  homestead.'  These  are  not,  I  im- 
agine, important  'cues'  in  the  development  of  the  recall. 
With  the  account  of  Comte's  philosophy,  the  second  phase  of 
recall  consisted  usually,  I  should  judge,  in  a  sense  of  the  '  three 
stages,'  more  or  less  definitely  conceived.  Many  of  the  papers 
got  no  further  than  an  attempt  to  realize  what  these  stages  are. 
They  were  frequently  erroneously  stated,  but  the  threeness  was 
invariably  present.  Whenever  the  individual  was  acquainted 
with  Comte's  speculations,  the  passage  was  recognized  as  an 
exposition  of  these,  and  the  consciousness  of  this  constituted  a 
factor  in  the  second  phase  of  recall. 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  methods  by  which 
this  general  sense  of  meaning  develops  into  the  details  of  the 
reproduction.  Two  distinct  lines  of  procedure  are  here  appar- 
ent. If  the  passage  were  well  memorized  and  retained,  the 
general  sense  of  meaning  quickly  unfolded  itself,  revealing  in 
their  proper  order  and  without  much  effort  the  details  of  the 
original  presentation.  Here  the  sense  of  words,  phrases  and 
their  order  was  frequently  of  much  importance.  Several  whose 
memories  for  words  were  good  relied  largely  on  this  mechanical 
kind  of  association  to  carry  them  on.  When  the  course  of  the 
recall  was  checked,  they  simply  held  themselves  in  an  expec- 
tant attitude,  hoping  for  the  right  thought  or  expression  to  rise. 
If  the  detail  came  properly,  it  brought  with  it  frequently  a  series 
of  the  original  expressions.  The  points  in  the  description  of 
the  Dutch  homestead  usually  developed  easily,  rapidly  and  in 
nearly  their  proper  order.  It  was  the  easiest  of  the  passages 
to  commit,  which  means  that  the  thought  was  congruous,  and 
could  be  embodied  in  a  general  picture,  all  the  details  of  which 
could  fairly  well  be  in  the  mind  at  once.  Hence  they  recurred 
readily  when  the  general  image  was  once  in  mind. 

But  often,  instead  of  waiting  in  a  receptive  mood  for  the 
thought  to  spring  up,  the  minds  of  the  students  went  out  ac- 
tively to  seek  it.  They  reasoned  in  the  details,  either  from  their 
general  notion  of  the  matters  with  which  the  passages  dealt,  or 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  6 1 

from  their  sense  of  what  might  fittingly  be  said  in  view  of  the 
main  theme.  One  individual  worked  out  his  reproduction  of 
'  The  History  of  the  Jews '  from  his  notion  of  the  '  Divine 
Providence'  shown  therein.  Another  remembered  that  the 
Jews  were  a  '  remarkable  people '  and  reasoned  to  the  causes. 
This  procedure  was  especially  important  in  the  case  of  the  pas- 
sage on  Comte's  philosophy,  where  the  *  three  stages '  fur- 
nished abundant  opportunity  for  speculation.  The  reasoning 
always  had  for  its  object  filling  in  some  detail  or  details  which 
the  larger,  or  vaguer,  thought  of  the  passage  demanded  for 
symmetry  or  completeness.  Its  conclusions  were  tested  by  their 
familiarity  in  the  context,  but  this  criterion  did  not  always  suf- 
fice to  keep  out  details  not  in  the  original.  Even  '  The  Dutch 
Homestead'  furnished  occasion  for  logic,  as  when  the  thought 
that  such  a  description  should  begin  with  the  outside  suggests 
the  roof,  which  is  promptly  recognized  as  an  initial  element  in 
the  description. 

We  may  say  that  the  introspective  accounts  seem  to  show  the 
presence  in  most  subjects  (doubtless  in  all)  of  the  following 
steps  in  recall. 

1.  A  preliminary  adjustment  of  the  attention  comparable  to 
that  when  the  passage  was  learned,  and  accompanied  by  im- 
agery of  the  experiences  then. 

2.  A  sense  of  the  general  meaning  of  the  passage. 

3.  The  unfolding  of  the  details  either  by  waiting  expect- 
antly for  certain  cues  to  lead  to  results,  or  by  reasoning  from 
them  to  the  details,  and  testing  these  by  the  criterion  of  famili- 
arity in  the  context. 

The  first  of  these  phases  is  only  externally  related  to  the 
contents  of  the  passage.  The  sense  of  the  meaning  is,  how- 
ever, especially  where  the  passage  is  not  well  memorized  verb- 
ally, the  basis  of  the  recall  of  most  of  the  details,  and  it  also 
determines  largely  the  order  of  their  reproduction.  Congruity 
with  it  is,  doubtless,  the  basis  of  recognition  of  thought,  some- 
times of  words.  What  is  its  true  relation  to  the  details?  Evi- 
dently it  is  not  transcendent  of  them.  It  is  rather  immanent  in 
them.  Better,  it  is  made  up  of  them.  It  is  a  vague  con- 
sciousness of  their  presence,  and  the  words  we  conjure  up  to 


63  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

express  it  are  frequently  evidence  of  its  composite  quality.  It 
is  not  an  abstraction.  It  is  the  concentrated  essence  of  the 
whole.  Its  generality  is  due  to  the  suppression  of  details  not  by 
banishment  but  by  absorption.  It  is  the  first  thing  to  come  up 
in  our  minds,  because  it  is  the  one  thing  that  was  growing  while 
every  other  thing  was  being  thought,  and  it  represents,  in  fact, 
is  their  total  effect  on  our  consciousness. 

To  the  study  of  the  method  by  which  this  meaning  is  com- 
posed I  will  now  turn.  It  is  created  out  of  details,  but  they  are 
modified  through  this  productive  process.  They  are  still  further 
modified  when  in  a  later  reproduction  they  are  evoked  at  the 
bidding  of  the  general  meaning.  What  is  the  total  result  of 
these  changes?  Is  it  a  minute  account  of  certain  fragments  of 
the  thought  with  forgetfulness  of  others,  or  is  it  a  fairly  complete 
representation  of  the  larger  topics  combined  with  a  vague  sense 
of  the  details  which  contribute  to  them. 

3.    Comparative  Strength  of  Memory  for  Details  and 
for  Larger  Topics. 

I  have  already  indicated  an  analysis  of  the  passages  used 
into  main  topics,  subtopics  and  details.^  This  division  makes 
it  possible  for  us  to  compare  on  two  levels  the  extent  to  which 
the  more  and  the  less  general  elements  are  remembered.  We 
note,  however,  that  the  direct  ratio  of  percentages  of  loss  of 
details  to  that  of  subtopics  or  topics  would  be  of  little  signifi- 
cance, because  the  disappearance  of  a  topic  would,  of  course, 
involve  the  loss  of  the  details  coming  under  it.  A  50  per  cent, 
loss  in  topics  would  ipso  facto  involve  about  a  50  per  cent,  loss 
in  details.^  The  percentage  of  loss  of  details  would,  therefore, 
surely  be  greater  than  that  of  larger  topics.  A  more  significant 
comparison  would  be  based  on  the  percentages  of  loss  of  details 
within  the  subtopics  that  are  remembered,  and  of  subtopics 
within  the  topics  that  were  retained.  The  data  in  the  following 
table  were  estimated  in  this  manner.  The  score  in  the  first  re- 
production is  as  before  the  basis  for  the  calculation  of  the  per- 
centages in  the  third. 

1  See  pp.  28-29,  33- 

*Not  necessarily  exactly  50  per  cent,  loss  in  details,  because  diflFerent  topics 
have  varying  scores  in  regard  to  details. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  63 


First  Reproduct 

ion. 

Third  Reproduction. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cem 

Loss 

Loss 

Loss 

Loss 

Loss 

Loss 

Test.              Class. 

Details. 

Subtopics. 

Topics. 

Details. 

Subtopics. 

Topics, 

I. 

S.  S.  students, 

17.3 

5-7 

2.6 

10.3 

4.1 

0 

P.  S.  7B  pupils, 

31-7 

6.6 

5-0 

8.9 

5-9 

4.9 

P.  S.  6B  pupils, 

20.3 

8.7 

8.3 

2.1 

6.4 

1.4 

P.  S.  5B  pupils. 

239 

14.8 

12.3 

7.0 

9-9 

3-7 

Better  P.  S.6B1  pupils. 

20.0 

8.1 

4.8 

2.2 

6.4 

1-4 

Better  P.  S.5B  pupils. 

17.6 

13.6 

5.8 

6.8 

10.2 

4.1 

2. 

E.  H.  S.  lA  students, 

22.9 

15-5 

8.6 

11.8 

10.6 

21.7 

E.  H.  S.  4B       " 

17.8 

15-3 

ir.7 

9-1 

9.8 

18.1 

E.  H.  S.  8B       " 

39-2 

ID.  I 

3-7 

9-5 

4 

8.6 

College  students, 

13-4 

8.9 

4.2 

10.4 

7 

12.7 

3. 

College 

31-7 

20.8 

15-4 

14. 1 

15-9 

9-5 

Graduates, 

19-3 

15-8 

18.7 

9-9 

16.9 

3-8 

4. 

Graduates, 

18. 1 

17-5 

0 

17.6 

12.0 

5-2 

5- 

Graduates, 

25 

19-5 

17.8 

25.6 

13-3 

17-4 

In  every  case  the  percentage  of  loss  of  topics  in  the  first 
reproduction  was  less  than  that  of  details,  and  in  11  out  of  12 
cases  it  was  less  than  that  for  subtopics.  In  the  third  reproduc- 
tion of  tests  I,  3,  4  and  5,  the  topics  suffered  a  smaller  percen- 
tage of  loss  than  the  details.  The  subtopics  invariably  lost  a 
smaller  percentage  than  the  details  in  the  first  reproduction,  and 
in  7  out  of  12  cases  in  the  third.  In  test  2,  where  the  topics 
lost  heavily  in  the  third  reproduction,  the  subtopics  lost  less  than 
the  details  in  3  out  of  4  cases.  We  may  therefore  say  that  the 
details  disappear  rapidly,  leaving  a  comparatively  large  per- 
centage of  the  leading  topics,  which  are  in  the  reproductions 
rendered  by  a  few  representative  details.  The  idea  of  the  pas- 
sage becomes  generalized.  Of  course,  there  is  a  limit  to  this 
generalization,  beyond  which  further  loss  of  details  leaves 
nothing  that  can  become  articulate  in  a  reproduction.  Here  the 
loss  in  topics  must  equal  that  in  details. 

If  we  were  to  eliminate  the  subtopics  from  the  calculation, 
we  would  find  that  in  every  case  the  percentage  of  loss  for 
details  would  be  far  in  excess  of  that  for  topics.  When  we 
consider  that  in  the  tests  there  are  about  as  many  details  in 
each  topic  as  there  are  topics  in  each  test,  such  a  comparison 
will  seem  a  fair  one.  A  second  tendency  may  be  noted,  which, 
although  probable,  could  hardly  have  been  so  confidently  pre- 

*  Omitting  those  below  50  per  cent,  first  reproduction. 


64  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

dieted  as  the  first.  In  both  test  i  and  test  2  the  more  advanced 
students  seem  usually  to  suffer  smaller  loss  in  topics  and  sub- 
topics than  the  younger  ones.  The  perfection  of  this  generali- 
zation is  interfered  with  by  the  excellence  of  E.  H.  S.  8B  stu- 
dents (a  select  class)  in  topics,  and  by  a  large  loss  in  topics  by  P. 
S.  7B  pupils  in  the  third  reproduction.  The  superiority  of  the 
more  advanced  students  in  grasping  and  retaining  the  general 
meaning  of  the  passage  even  when  they  lost  as  large  or  even  a 
larger  percentage  of  details  is,  however,  unmistakable.  Age 
and  training,  especially  the  latter,  have  doubtless  something 
to  do  with  this,  although  the  exclusion  of  inferior  minds  from  the 
more  advanced  classes  may  partly  account  for  it. 

4.  Histoj'y  of  the  Ideas  Regarding  the  Contents  of  the 

Passages. 

Can  this  same  generalizing  tendency  be  discovered  in  the 
later  rendition  of  specific  ideas  in  the  passages?  The  general 
ideas,  we  agree,  tend  to  be  preserved  better  than  the  details. 
But  they  are  themselves  made  up  of  details.  Some  definite 
content  is  necessary,  or  we  could  not  recognize  the  topics. 
What  details  remain  that  we  may  identify  the  larger  thoughts? 
Do  they  suffer  transformation?  What  details  are  lost?  Are 
they  utterly  lost?  The  answer  to  these  questions  should  enable 
us  to  tell  not  only  whether  the  memory  of  such  passages  is  a 
memory  for  general  ideas  rather  than  for  details,  but  also 
whether  there  is,  as  it  were,  a  generalization  of  the  details.  If 
such  is  the  case,  then  we  should  be  able  to  offer  a  description 
of  the  process  of  generalization. 

The  method  of  my  study  has  been  to  follow  the  fate  of  par- 
ticular ideas  and  contents  from  reproduction  to  reproduction. 
The  three  reproductions  were  placed  side  by  side  in  parallel 
columns.  The  parts  of  each  that  deal  with  specific  portions  of 
the  original  were  kept  as  far  as  possible  on  the  same  horizontal 
lines.  Whatever  transpositions  were  necessary  to  effect  this 
arrangement  were  indicated.  On  such  a  paper  the  modifica- 
tions in  later  reproductions  are  readily  apparent.  A  plausible 
explanation  for  most  of  them  is  equally  easy.  But  a  classifi- 
cation of  the  changes  by  which  they  may  be  accounted  for  is,  I 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  65 

have  found,  somewhat  complicated.  For  the  sake  of  avoiding 
too  much  detail  and  confusion,  I  shall  present  a  simple  state- 
ment of  the  general  character  of  the  modifications,  as  I  have 
come  to  conceive  them.  I  shall  then  discuss  one  of  the  pas- 
sages, pointing  out  characteristic  transformations  of  each  part. 
This  will  be  followed  by  a  comparison  of  the  differences  be- 
tween the  modifications  of  the  different  passages,  and  a  record 
of  the  extent  to  which  different  parts  of  the  passages  were  re- 
tained. Finally,  a  comparison  of  these  records  in  the  case  of 
P.  S.  pupils  will  enable  some  further  deductions  as  to  the  effect 
of  age  and  training  on  the  generalizing  power. 

a.  Types  of  Changes  in  the  Reproductions. 

These  changes  may  be  summed  up  under  three  heads  :  re- 
grouping, simplification,  introductions.  ^ 

Rcgrotiping. — The  topics  and  subtopics  which  are  most 
closely  allied  tend  to  be  brought  together,  even  when  the}'-  were 
treated  in  separate  portions  of  the  original  text.  The  kinship 
may  be  a  result  of  some  sameness  in  details,  or  may  lie  in  the 
general  similarity  of  the  two  topics,  or  in  their  being  comple- 
mentary parts  in  the  treatment  of  some  general  theme.  Ex- 
amples are  as  follows  :  In  the  account  of  the  Egyptian  king, 
topics  4  and  9  are  often  combined.  One  is  '  when  asked  by  a 
favorite  the  reason  for  this  change,  he  replied ' ;  the  other  gives 
the  moral  of  the  story,  —  /.  e.,  the  reason  for  the  change.  In  the 
account  of  Cicero,  subtopic  2  —  the  statement  of  Cicero's  posi- 
tion among  Roman  orators  —  is  frequently  combined  with  topic 
5 — the  comparison  of  Cicero's  oratory  with  that  Demosthenes. 
In  the  outline  of  Jewish  history,  the  conflicts  of  the  Jews  with 
neighboring  tribes,  topic  5,  and  with  the  nations  of  the  Eu- 
phrates, topic  7,  are  often  brought  together. 

Illustrations  might  be  multiplied.  These  will  serve  to  make 
my  meaning  clear.  Such  transpositions  might  be  expected, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  take  place  on  a  large  scale. 
Often  a  subordinate  detail  in  one  context  will  be  reproduced  in 
another  connection  where  it  fits,  and  the  original  context,  thus 
disrupted,  if  it  cannot  be  dragged  after  its  wandering  member, 
may  be  forgotten.     Thus  the  gradual  rise  of  the  Jews  'to  the 


66  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

rank  of  a  powerful,  opulent  and  commercial  nation,'  topic  6,  is 
assimilated  with  their  increase  '  so  rapidly  as  to  become  on  a 
sudden  the  fierce  and  irresistible  conquerors  of  their  native  val- 
leys,' topic  3.  Here  the  contradictory  or  inconsistent  ideas  of 
course  disappear. 

Sim-plijication, — The  last  illustration  involves  not  only  re- 
grouping, but  assimilation  with  condensation  and  modification  of 
the  details  involved.  Thus  the  passage  becomes  simplified. 
The  general  result  of  this  process  is  to  force  to  the  front  cer- 
tain striking  central  thoughts,  and  to  make  the  other  details 
more  closely  dependent  upon  them,  and  so  less  conspicuous. 
Taking  up  the  two  specific  factors  in  the  process,  let  us  deal 
with  (i)  condensation.  Two  types  of  this  appear.  First,  ideas 
that  are  repeated  receive  only  one  expression.  We  have  seen 
that  a  similarity  of  ideas  will  frequently  cause  two  or  more  sep- 
arated contexts  to  coalesce.  Here  the  similar  ideas  will,  of 
course,  usually  be  expressed  but  once.  The  Jews  are  said  to 
be  in  servitude  to  the  Egyptians,  subtopic  6,  to  neighboring 
tribes,  subtopic  15,  and  to  the  Babylonians,  subtopic  23.  In 
several  cases  these  ideas  coalesce ;  e.  g.^  'sometimes  enslaved 
by  the  Babylonians,  Assyrians,  Egyptians,'  etc.  Again  the 
Jews  are  said  to  be  *  twice  exiled  and  twice  restored  to  their 
•country,'  thus  uniting  topic  2  with  7,  and  3  with  8.  Similarly 
in  test  2,  'orators,'  subtopic  2,  and  'oratory,'  subtopic  11,  are 
frequently  a  basis  for  condensation  of  expression,  and  in  test  4 
'  lowly  sloping  roofs '  makes  '  low-projecting  eaves '  unnec- 
essary. 

The  second  type  of  condensation  is  the  omission  of  unim- 
portant words  by  substituting  words  for  phrases,  or  clauses. 
'  In  the  annals  of  mankind,'  test  3,  becomes  '  of  the  world,'  '  of 
mankind,'  etc.  '  Placed  side  by  side  with  Demosthenes,  or,  at 
least,  close  after  him,'  test  2,  becomes  with  slight  loss  '  placed 
second  only  to  Demosthenes.'  '  Through  the  ranks  of  Roman 
official  service '  becomes  '  through  the  official  ranks,'  Roman 
being  understood  because  the  idea  was  brought  out  before. 
<  Suddenly  he  changed  his  course  and  ruled  so  well  as  to  be 
called  the  just,'  test  i,  becomes  'suddenly  he  so  changed  his 
course  as  to  become  known  as  the  just.'     'Was  struck  on  the 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  67 

head  by  a  stone,  that  cracked  its  skull.  The  stone  was  thrown 
by  a  man '  is  rendered  '  whose  skull  was  broken  by  a  stone 
thrown  by  a  man.'  '  Asked  the  reason  for  this  change  '  becomes 
'  asked  why.'  '  Government  and  code  of  laws  totally  different 
from  those  of  any  other  rude  or  civilized  community,'  test  3, 
appears  as  '  most  peculiar  government  and  laws.'  The  phrase- 
ology thus  omitted  indicates  relations  that  stood  for  the  special 
line  of  march  of  the  thought  of  the  writer  of  the  passage.  But 
the  meaning  in  the  mind  of  the  subject  is  composed  of  all  the 
points  of  view  gained  as  a  result  of  this  journey.  Because  they 
are  all  in  the  mind  vaguely  when  the  passage  is  about  to  be 
reproduced,  they  need  not  be  reached  by  the  tortuous  paths  by 
following  which  they  originally  came  to  view.  The  memory 
inevitably  condenses.  It  is  important  to  note  that  this  conden- 
sation is  to  a  very  great  extent  no  real  loss. 

(2)  Modification.  —  Regrouping  and  condensation  frequently 
bring  about  certain  modifications.  Often  ideas  having  some- 
what the  same  functions  are  '  fused  '  into  a  new  product  partak- 
ing of  the  nature  of  each  of  its  parents.  For  example,  '  whose 
reign  had  long  been  a  course  of  savage  tyranny.  Long  had  he 
ruined  the  rich  and  distressed  the  poor,'  test  i,  is  rendered, 
'  who  ruled  the  rich  tyrannically  and  the  poor  harshly.'  Here 
the  number  of  distinct  details  (according  to  my  scheme  of  scor- 
ing) is  reduced  nearly  one  half,  but  only  one  significant  idea  — 
that  of  the  length  of  the  tyranny  —  is,  I  should  judge,  clearly 
lost.  '  Ruling  tyrannically  '  when  applied  to  the  rich  does  fairly 
well  for  'reign,'  'ruined'  and  'tyranny.'  '  Harshly'  gives  us 
a  fair  compound  for  'distressed'  and  'savage.'  'Course'  is 
unimportant.  The  sentence,  '  His  family  was  of  the  middle 
class  only  and  without  wealth,'  test  2,  becomes  in  several 
instances  something  like  '  His  family  was  of  moderate  means.' 
Here  '  middle  class  '  is  lost  but  '  moderate  '  and  '  means '  testify 
that  the  thought  has  not  utterly  failed  to  influence  the  result.  In 
the  same  passage  '  only  '  was  frequently  lost.  By  way  of  com- 
pensation for  one  negation,  another,  the  lack  of  wealth,  was 
emphasized.  The  family  is  declared  to  be  '  by  no  means,'  '  not 
at  all,'  or  '  not  in  the  least  wealthy.'  In  test  3  one  paper  fuses 
'  sprung  from  one  stock  they  pass  the  infancy  of  their  nation  in 


68  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

a  state  of  servitude  in  a  foreign  country  '  into  '  having  their 
origin  as  slaves  to  an  alien  race.'  '  Sprung  '  and  '  infancy  ' 
unite  in  '  origin,'  while  '  race '  is  more  akin  to  *  stock,'  an 
omitted  word,  than  *  country'  for  which  it  is  substituted. 

Sometimes  ideas  are  in  consequence  of  appearing  in  a  new 
context  modified  so  as  to  fit  therein.  Here  the  idea  suffers  in 
its  integrity,  not  to  preserve  another  that  would  else  be  lost,  but 
to  save  itself.  Cicero  is  said  to  have  been  '  bitter '  instead  of 
having  a  '  venomous  bite,'  the  context  of  the  latter  statement 
having  disappeared. 

Modifications  are  sometimes  made  in  order  to  make  the  ideas 
consistent  with  the  experience  or  preconceptions  of  the  indi- 
vidual. The  '  stages  '  of  Comte  are  converted  into  a  variety 
of  schemes;  e.  g..,  '  metaphysical  or  speculative,  ethical  or  re- 
ligious, and  scientific  or  exact.'  The  '  favorite  '  of  the  Egyptian 
King  becomes  a  *  servant,'  a  '  friend,'  '  one  of  his  people,'  etc. 
The  '  fox,'  a  strange  animal  to  city  children,  becomes  a  '  pig.' 
'  Trod  on,'  an  unfamiliar  expression  in  test  i,  is  translated  into 
*  trampled  on,'  '  run  down  by.'  In  the  last  instance  the  fusion 
with  '  ran  in  the  way  of  '  and  '  kicked  by  '  (used  in  an  earlier 
reproduction)  is  evident.  '  Changed  his  course  and  ruled  so 
well,  etc.,'  becomes  '  changed  his  unjust  rules,'  rules  being  a 
prominent  idea  to  the  much  governed  school-child. 

Of  course,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  downright  omission  in 
the  reproductions.  It  usually  takes  place  first  with  the  insigni- 
ficant ideas.  They  are  lost  largely  because  rearrangements 
have  rendered  them  useless  or  incongruous.  The  notable  thing 
is  the  extent  to  which  all  ideas  that  contribute  any  marked  share 
to  the  thought  which  may  be  said  to  constitute  the  total  sense  of 
the  passage  leave  some  evidence  of  themselves.  This  matter 
I  shall  discuss  quantitatively  later. 

Introductions.  —  One  of  the  most  evident  peculiarities  of 
the  reproductions  is  the  extent  to  which  certain  expressions  or 
thoughts  are  made  to  do  service  as  substitutes  in  other  contexts 
than  that  in  which  they  originally  occurred.  Situations  at  all 
familiar  are  described  as  nearly  as  can  be  in  the  same  terms. 
This  similarity  of  expression  leads,  of  course,  to  greater  same- 
ness of  thought  than  existed  before,  and  aids  in  the  generaliza- 


A   STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  69 

tion  of  the  passage.  The  '  tyranny  '  of  the  Egyptian  King  is 
called  '  injustice  '  because  his  later  conduct  made  him  called 
*  the  just.'  This  change  is  a  type  of  a  very  common  mode  of 
treating  this  part  of  the  passage.  One  subject  carries  the 
thought  of  justice  and  its  opposite  so  far  that  '  ruining  the  rich 
and  distressing  the  poor  '  becomes  *  condemning  the  innocent 
and  oppressing  the  righteous.'  Again  '  trampled  on  the  poor  ' 
instead  of  '  distressed  the  poor '  is  doubtless  influenced  by  the 
later  '  trod  on  '  by  a  horse.  In  the  Cicero  test  the  word  '  rank ' 
was  frequently  used  in  comparing  the  Roman  with  Demosthenes, 
a  context  where  it  does  not  appear  in  the  original. 

The  Jews  are  said  to  be  '  remarkable  without  reference  to 
their  religious  belief.'  Later  when  their  '  government  and 
laws  '  are  mentioned,  these  are  declared  to  be  <  remarkable '  in 
lieu  of  the  original  characterization.  The  papers  teem  with 
illustrations  of  introductions.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the 
context  into  which  they  force  their  way,  they  are  often  really 
modifications.  Certain  ideas  lie  in  the  foreground  of  the  gen- 
eral thought  which  the  subject  is  trying  to  sketch  in  his  repro- 
duction. These  thrust  themselves  into  any  congruous  situation 
that  the  sketch  presents,  and  usurp  the  place  of  those  original 
ideas  the  function  of  which  they  can  perform.  All  this  results 
in  greater  similarities,  which  in  later  reproductions  are  a  basis 
for  a  new  regrouping  and  consequent  simplification.  Thus  the 
generalizing  process  feeds  itself.  It  spreads  through  the  pas- 
sage similarities  more  nearly  perfect  than  those  in  the  original, 
and  these  serve  to  bring  about  new  combinations  in  which  the 
remaining  differences  tend  to  disappear.  In  this  fashion  that 
general  picture  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  final  product 
is  evolved. 

But  it  has  not  so  much  annihilated  as  devoured  the  distinc- 
tions by  the  suppression  of  which  it  has  been  forced  to  the  front. 
It  has  fed  on  them,  and  its  substance  is  not  without  trace  of  the 
matter  out  of  which  it  has  been  composed,  as  well  as  of  the  di- 
recting ideas  by  which  this  has  been  disposed.  Omissions  do, 
indeed,  reduce  the  richness  of  content  in  the  passage.  Intro- 
ductions tend  to  chase  out  differences,  and  to  leave  the  promi- 
nent ideas  in  possession  of  the  field.     Nevertheless,  it  must  be 


70  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

remembered  that  the  modifications  and  condensations  of  simpli- 
fication for  the  most  part  squeeze  out  only  the  water,  leaving 
the  essence  of  the  thought. 

b.  Modifications  in  the  Reproduction  of 
'The  Dutch  Homestead.' 

Let  us  now  take  up  one  of  the  passages  and  run  through 
some  of  the  characteristic  changes  that  different  parts  of  it 
undergo.  '  The  Dutch  Homestead '  I  have  chosen  as,  per- 
haps, offering  the  most  suggestive  material  for  study.  Some 
account  of  ways  in  which  its  specific  parts  came  to  be  rendered 
appears  in  the  column  parallel  to  that  containing  the  original. 
The  numbers  indicate  the  division  into  subtopics,  and  the  com- 
ment concerning  each  subtopic  occupies  the  space  opposite. 

Original  Text.  Comment  of  Typical  Alodifications . 

1.  It  was  one  of  those  The  formal  introduction  'it  was 'is 
spacious     farmhouses  preserved  in  37  out  of  45  papers. 

Probably  under  the  influence  of  the 
idea  of  '  lowness  '  later  brought 
out,  '  spacious  '  is  rendered 
'  wide,'  '  long,'  '  rambling,'  etc. 

2.  with  high  ridged  but     '  High '  is  frequently  left  out  because 
lowly  sloping  roofs,  of  '  lowly.'     We  find  all  adjec- 
tives sometimes   condensed  into 
one;  e.  g.,  'peaked,'  'steep.' 

3.  built  in  the  style  hand-  This  entire  statement  is  often  con- 
ed down  from  the  first  densed  to  such  a  form  as  '  old- 
Dutch  settlers,  fashioned     Dutch    farmhouse,' 

and  transferred  to  the  beginning 
of  the  passage. 

4.  the  low  projecting  This  context  is  usually  combined 
eaves  forming  a  piaz-  with  that  of  *  lowly  sloping 
za  along  the  front                  roofs.'      The    adjective    '  long ' 

is  applied  to  the  piazza.  I  con- 
jecture the  influence  of  the  sound 
in  '  along '  plus  the  thought  of 
the  proportions  of  the  house. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY. 


71 


5.  capable  of  being 
boarded  up  in  bad 
weather. 


6.  Under  this  were  hung 
flails,  harness, 


7.  various     utensils     of 
husbandry, 


8.  and  nets  for  fishing 
in  the  neighboring 
river. 

9.  Benches  were  built 
along  the  side  for 
summer  use, 

10.   and  a  great  spinning 
wheel  at  one  end 


II.   and   a    churn    at   the 
other 


12.  showed  the  various 
uses  to  which  this  im- 
portant porch  might  be 
devoted. 

13.  From  the  piazza  one 
might  enter  the  hall 


We  find  '  bad  weather '  mentally 
contrasted  with  '  summer,'  sub- 
topic  9,  and  called  '  winter 
weather ' ;  or  the  porch  is  de- 
clared to  be  for  winter  use. 

The  word  '  hung  '  occurs  in  yet  an- 
other context,  subtopic  25.  As 
a  result  it  is  introduced  wherever 
it  can  be. 

This  is  a  summarizing  expression 
that  rarely  leaves  no  trace  on  the 
reproduction.  Its  influence  is 
seen  in  such  expressions  as 
*  various  articles  of  furniture  ' 
said  to  be  in  the  hall. 

This  is  an  idea  so  out  of  harmony 
with  the  general  thought  that  it 
is  more  frequently  left  out  than 
any  other  subtopic. 

We  find  the  porch  called  a  living 
place  in  summer  to  contrast 
with  the  hall,  which  is  the  '  prin- 
cipal place  of  residence.* 

Spinning  wheel  is  frequently  trans- 
ferred to  the  hall  because  natur- 
ally connected  with  '  wool  ready 
to  be  spun,'  etc. 

This  leaves  the  churn  at  one  end  of 
the  porch  with  nothing  to  balance 
it  at  the  other.  Various  articles 
are  used  to  fill  in  the  gap,  '  settee ' 
being  one. 

We  find  all  the  articles  from  harness 
to  churn  grouped  and  said  to 
indicate  the  occupations  of  the 
people  dwelling  here. 

The  hall  is  often  called  *  large ' 
from  the  influence  of  'spacious' 


72 


E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


14.  which  formed  the  cen- 
ter of  the  mansion 

15,  and  the  usual  place  of 
residence. 


16.  Here  rows  of  resplen- 
dent pewter 

17.  ranged    on     a     long 
dresser 


18.  dazzled  his  eyes. 

19.  In  one  corner  stood  a 
huge  bag  of  wool 

20.  ready  to  be  spun. 


21.  In  another  a  quantity 
of  linsey  woolsey 


22.  just  from    the   loom.      In 


23.  Ears  of  Indian  corn 


and  'mansion.'  When  called 
*  the  central  hall '  the  next  sub- 
topic  is  omitted. 

Subtopics  14  and  15  are  often  com- 
bined;  e.  g.^  'the  spacious  liv- 
ing room.' 

The  word  '  usual,'  similar  in  sound 
to  '  use,'  doubtless  aids  the  gen- 
eralization of  the  details  of  sub- 
topics 9  and  15. 

I  find  '  resplendent '  or  some  equiva- 
lent word  often  transferred  to 
'  red  peppers,'  subtopic  26. 

The  piazza  is  '  along  the  front,'  the 
benches  are  '  along  the  side,' 
and  later  the  festoons  are  '  along 
the  walls.'  Hence  the  pewter 
is  often  put  '  along  a  dresser.' 
In  one  case  we  find  two  dressers 
mentioned. 

The  idea  of  'dazzled'  is  usually 
absorbed  in  that  of  '  resplendent.' 

'  Huge  '  and  '  bag '  are  used  indif- 
ferently with  either  '  wool '  or 
'  linsey  woolsey.' 

Omitted  frequently.  Possibly  it  is 
absorbed  into  the  idea  of  the 
spinning  wheel. 

The  idea  of  '  linsey-woolsey '  is 
somewhat  unfamiliar,  but  it  al- 
most holds  its  own  with  that  of 
'  wool '  in  the  reproductions, 
one  case  this  is  combined  with 
subtopic  20,  as  '  ready  to  be 
used.' 

The  idea  of  'corn'  suffers  some 
transformation  frequently.  It 
becomes      '  dried      vegetables,' 


A    STUDY   OF  MEMORY.  73 

'  Other  dried  fruits,'  because  of 
the  dried  apples  and  peaches. 

24.  and  strings  of  dried     Almost  invariably  some  fruit   was 
apples  and  peaches  mentioned  although  not  always 

apples  and  peaches. 

25.  hung  in  gay  festoons     The  'festoons'  are  often  left  out, 
along  the  walls,  and  '  gay '  unmentioned  in  the 

general  brightness. 

26.  mingled  with  the  gaud     The  'red   peppers'  are  sometimes 
of  red  peppers.  absorbed    into    the    dried    stuff 

generally.  In  one  case  they  are 
called  seed-pods,  perhaps  com- 
bining with  corn,  as  several 
speak  of  the  latter  as  '  seed 
corn.' 

I  have  thought  that  the  exhibition  of  a  typical  series  of  re- 
productions would  have  the  advantage  of  showing  such  modi- 
fications in  the  specific  context  in  which  they  occur.  Thus 
the  total  effect  of  such  changes  can  be  better  seen.  In  the 
columns  that  follow  the  reproductions  of  one  student  are  placed 
side  by  side.  Each  numbered  section  indicates  the  material  of 
the  reproductions  on  the  corresponding  subtopic  in  the  passage. 
Whatever  the  arrangement  of  the  subject,  the  treatment  of  each 
subtopic  is,  therefore,  introduced  in  the  order  of  the  original 
passage.  That  the  transpositions  might  be  evident,  however, 
every  expression  that  in  the  subject's  version  did  not  follow  di- 
rectly after  the  one  that  in  our  version  is  put  just  before  it  is 
introduced  by  a  number  and  the  sign  -f- .  This  number  indi- 
cates the  section  where  may  be  found  the  matter  that  in  the 
reproduction  did  actually  precede  it.  The  sign  -j-  and  a  num- 
ber following  the  matter  of  a  section  indicates  the  section 
where  we  may  look  for  the  text  that  in  the  subject's  version  ap- 
peared next  in  order.  The  numbers  are  therefore  guide-posts 
that  will  serve  us  in  redintegrating  the  passage  as  it  appeared 
in  the  reproduction.  A  number  introduced  parenthetically  in- 
dicates the  section  where  the  word  or  idea  preceding  it  may  be 
found  in  the  original  passage. 


74 


E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


First  Reproduction. 

.  It  was  one  of  those 
spacious  farmhouses 

.  with  high  ridged  but 
lowly  sloping  roofs 

,  built  in  the  style  of 
the  early  Dutch  set- 
tlers, 

,  the  drooping  eaves  of 
the  roof  formed  a 
piazza, 


5.  which  might  be  closed 
in  bad  weather, 

6.  From  the  rafters  hung 
flails,  harness 

7.  and  other  farm  uten- 
sils, 

8.  nets  for  fishing  in  the 
neighboring  river. 

9.  Along  the  house  were 
ranged  benches  for 
summer  use 


10.  and  a  huge  ( 19)  spin- 
ning wheel  at  one  end 

11.  and  a  churn 

12.  showed  the  various 
uses  to  which  the  pi- 
azza might  be  put. 

13.  From  the  piazza  one 
might  enter  the  hall 

14.  which  formed  the 
center  of  the  house 

15.  where  the  family 
lived. 


16.  Here  rows  of  re- 
splendent pewter 

17.  ranged  upon  dressers 

18.  dazzled  one's  eyes. 

19.  On  either  hand  hung 
(25)  wool 

20.  ready  for  the  wheel 

21.  linsey-woolsey 


Second  Reproduction. 
The  farmhouse  +3 


Third  Reproduction. 
The  Dutch  (3)  homestead 


3-I-     a     low     rambling  was  a  large  low  house  with 
structure  with  low  +4       sloping  eaves. 

1+  of  the  early  Dutch 
settlers  was  +  2 

2+   overhanging  eaves  reaching     almost     to    the 
under  the  shelter  (5)       ground  underneath  which 
of  which  was  a  piazza       was  a  piazza  +12 
running    around    the 
house  +10 


9+   and   hanging  from   11+  harness  +8 
the  piazza  roof  (2) 


nets  for  fishing  and  sets 
of  harness  (6)  +12 

11+  benches  for  the  use 
of  the  family  in  sum- 
mer, -j-6 


4+  Here  was  placed 

+11  (cf.  19) 

10+  a  churn  -{-9 

6+  showed    the  varied 

uses  to  which  it  was 

put. 
From  the  piazza  one 

entered 
the  central  hall 

the  living  room  of  the 
family. 


Here 


6-f  and  nets  for  fishing  in 
the  river  +13 

12+  Here  in  summer  time 
the  family  lived  and  upon 
it  were  placed  in  various 
positions  wash  benches 
+11. 

21+  a  spinning  wheel  +25 

9+  chums  +6 
4+  which  served  a  variety 
of  usages  +9. 

8+  Entering  the  house 

in  the  middle  was  a  large 
hall 

the  living  room  in  winter 
for  the  family  and  a  stor- 
age place  for  various  (7) 
useful  articles. 

Here 


stood  the  spinning  wheel  were  placed  or  hung  (25) 

(10),  wool 
ready  for  the  carders 

linsey-woolsey  in  large  quantities,  linsey- 

woolsey  +  10 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  75 

First  Reproduction.  Second  Reproduction.  Third  Reproduction. 

22.  just  from  the  loom  just  from  the  loom  +24 
4-24 

23.  24+  and  ears  of  In-   26+  and  Indian  corn         25+  with  ears  of  golden 
dian  corn  +26  +25  corn  +26 

24.  22+    rows  of   dried  22+  rows  of  fruit  +26 
apples  and  peaches 

+23 

25.  23+  shone  resplendent   10+  and  the  walls  were  re- 

(16)  along  the  walls.        splendent  +23 

26.  23+  bunches  of  red  24-j-  of  brilliant  red  pep-   23+  and  clusters  of  red 
peppers.  pers  +23.  peppers. 

Characteristic  regroupings,  condensations,  fusions  and  intro- 
ductions are  here  evident,  as  is  also  the  generalized  nature  of 
the  result.  The  score  in  ideas  of  the  third  reproduction,  I  make 
37  +  out  of  a  possible  88.  Of  the  50  -f  details  recorded  as 
lost,  only  21  that  seem  to  me  definitely  contributory  to  the  idea 
have  left  no  clear  trace.  Doubtless,  evidences  of  many  of  these 
have  escaped  my  observation.  At  any  rate,  it  is  certain  that 
the  passage  is  reduced  largely  by  the  omission  of  non-essential 
elements,  and  that  this  condensation  is  favored  or,  indeed, 
brought  about  by  the  processes  we  have  discussed.  Let  us  now 
compare  the  extent  to  which  these  changes  prevail  in  tests  3, 
4  and  5. 

c.  Comparison  of  the  Generalizing  Processes  in  Tests 

3,  4  and  5. 

Let  us  note  the  fate  of  the  topics  in  the  third  reproduction. 
Collecting  data  from  the  papers  of  twelve  individuals  who  took 
all  three  tests,  we  find  that  in  test  3  ('  The  History  of  the 
Jews ')  an  average  of  22.9  per  cent,  of  topics  was  lost ;  in  test  4 
('  The  Dutch  Homestead')  an  average  of  5.2  per  cent,  of  topics ; 
and  in  test  5  ('  Stages  in  the  Development  of  Human  Theories') 
of  32.1  per  cent.  The  manifest  superiority  of  the  memory  for 
the  leading  ideas  in  test  4  arises,  doubtless,  partly  because  of 
the  simplicity  and  interest  of  the  thought  as  contrasted  with  the 
more  involved  and  less  familiar  ideas  in  the  other  tests,  particu- 
larly the  one  on  Comte.  The  main  reason,  however,  is,  I  am 
confident,  the  fact  that,  largely  because  of  their  greater  abstract- 
ness,  tests  3  and  5  were  much  more  readily  generalized  through 


76 


E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


regrouping,  condensation  and  the  introductions  that  favor  such 
changes.  They  are  filled  full  of  repetitions  of  words  and  ideas 
more  or  less  similar.  The  same  themes  are  in  different  contexts 
several  times  dealt  with  from  slightly  different  points  of  view. 
Such  ideas,  whether  leading  or  subordinate  ones,  tend  to  re- 
ceive one  expression,  and  thus  to  disrupt  the  passages,  thereby 
initiating  all  sorts  of  modifications.  Let  us  notice  the  nature  of 
the  topics  in  these  tests,  and  the  way  in  which  the  loss  is  dis- 
tributed among  them.  In  the  following  table  the  subjects  of 
the  various  topics  are  summarized,  and  a  record  made  of  the 
number  of  times  each  is  absent  in  the  twelve  papers  of  the  third 
reproduction. 


Topics.    The  History  of         Loss, 
the  Jews. 

1  Jews  remarkable  apart 
from  religion. 

2  Origin,  and  early  for- 
eign servitude. 

3  Rapid    increase,  and 
conquest  of  Palestine. 

4  Settlement.  Character 
of  government. 

5  Conflicts  with  neigh- 
bors. 

6  Union,    and     rise    to 
prosperity. 

7  Discord,  and  conquest 
by  Babylonians. 

8  Restoration  to  native 
land. 


The  Dutch  Home- 
stead. 


Loss. 


Loss. 


Style  and  external  ap- 
pearance, o 
The  porch.                    o 

Contents     of  porch 

hanging  up.  i 
Contents  of  porch  on 

the  floor.  o 

Position    and  use  of 

hall.  o 

Pewter.  2 

Wool  and  linsey-wool- 
sey. I 
Corn,  dried  fruit,  and 


Comte's  Phi- 
losophy. 

Method  of  reaching  the 

law. 

Its  proof. 


4 
7 


Law  as  applied  to  con- 
ceptions. I 
Statement  of  the  succes- 
sive conditions.  i 
Law  as  applied  to  meth- 
ods of  philosophizing.      3 
Law  as  applied    to    sys- 
tems of  philosophy.          8 
General  relation  of  the 
three  stages.                        3 


5    peppers. 


Examining  the  record  in  test  3,  we  notice  no  loss  in  topics  2 
and  3,  little  in  i,  and  most  in  5  and  8.  Do  our  theories  afford 
any  explanation  of  this?  The  Jews  are  on  three  occasions  said 
to  be  conquered:  in  topics  2,  5  and  7.  Their  institutions  are 
characterized  in  i  and  4.  Their  rise  to  prosperity  appears 
in  3  and  6.  Return  to  Palestine  is  mentioned  in  3  and  8.  It 
will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  topics  i,  2  and  3  give  the  important 
themes  of  the  passage,  which  the  later  parts  develop  in  different 
conditions.  Hence  the  loss  in  the  latter  part,  where  these 
themes  are  reiterated.  Topic  5,  which  expresses  conflict,  vic- 
tory and  servitude,  disintegrates  easily  under  the  influence  of 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  77 

such  Other  contexts  as  deal  respectively  with  slavery  and  con- 
quest. Topic  8,  even  because  of  its  phraseology,  is  easily  as- 
similated with  3. 

In  test  4  conditions  are  different.  The  themes  stand  out 
from  each  other,  and  the  main  factors  of  the  homestead  are  in- 
variably given.  We  find  transpositions  in  the  interest  of  unify- 
ing the  treatment  of  the  topics,  but  the  topics  themselves  do  not 
disappear  by  assimilation,  because  they  are  not  capable  of  this. 
The  loss  is  centered  entirely  upon  different  elements  in  the 
contents  of  the  house.  Twice  the  pewter  disappears,  but  not 
without  leaving  vestiges  of  the  thought  of  the  topic  here  or  else- 
where. A  loss  in  this  passage  is  far  more  apt  to  leave  a  sen- 
sible gap,  that  insistently  demands  filling,  than  one  in  either 
tests  3  or  5. 

The  first  two  topics  in  test  5  concern  the  means  of  discover- 
ing the  law  and  the  method  of  proving  it.  These,  it  will  be 
seen  from  examining  the  passage,  are  not  much  different.  The 
means  of  discovery  are  the  methods  of  proof.  Hence  the  two 
topics  frequently  coalesce.  The  central  thought  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  passage  is,  however,  given  in  topics  3  and  4,  one  of 
which  states  the  law  as  one  of  three  stages,  and  the  other  char- 
acterizes these  stages.  Each  of  these  topics  fails  to  appear  but 
once  in  the  papers  under  discussion,  and  the  idea  of  the  three 
stages  is  never  absent.  Into  this  core  nearly  all  the  rest  of  the 
passage  can  be  without  much  loss  generalized.  What  went  be- 
fore indicated  the  necessity  of  the  law  from  the  very  nature  of 
man  and  from  the  evidence  of  experience.  This  statement  of 
the  stages  as  necessary  ones  in  the  history  of  human  thought 
embraces  all  this.  The  two  subsequent  topics  merely  reiterate 
the  fundamental  thought.  The  distinction  between  methods  of 
philosophizing  and  systems  of  philosophy  escaped  the  memories 
of  most.  The  last  topic,  bringing  out  the  mutual  relationship 
of  the  three  stages,  is  better  retained  because  it  is  more  clearly 
a  new  point. 

I  do  not  think  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  remembering  abstractions  is  not  so  much  the  trouble  we 
have  in  seizing  them  as  the  ease  with  which  they  coalesce  into 
unity.     The  '  Logik  '  of  Hegel  is  a  marvellous  example  of  the 


78  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

way  our  generalizing  power  reconciles  differences  in  the  sphere 
of  the  conceptions.  To  keep  in  mind  the  mass  of  distinctions 
therein  contained,  one  must  embody  them  in  concrete  material 
or  rely  on  mechanical  memory.  It  is  such  practices  as  these 
that  make  the  abstractions  familiar,  and  force  them  to  stand  out 
in  such  a  way  as  to  resist  the  difference-annihilating  power  of 
the  general  meaning. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  detail  that  is  least  consonant  with  the 
general  thought,  least  likely  to  spring  out  of  an  endeavor  to  re- 
instate congruous  elements,  is  the  one  most  commonly  for- 
gotten. In  test  4,  'nets  for  fishing,'  etc.,  disappears  in  twelve 
out  of  fifteen  cases  in  the  third  reproduction.  And  this,  doubt- 
less, because  we  do  not  think  of  farming  and  fishing  together- 
But  by  the  way  of  comparison,  we  note  that  '  ready  to  be  spun ' 
disappears  in  eleven  out  of  the  fifteen  instances,  and  very  likely 
because  the  introduction  of  the  spinning  wheel  with  the  context 
has  satisfied  the  feeling  of  need  for  such  an  idea.  Here  we 
have  not  the  forgetting  of  the  incongruous,  but  the  absorption 
of  the  similar.  Again,  we  note  that  in  the  fifteen  papers  *  just 
from  the  loom'  is  missing  in  eleven  cases,  'dazzled  his  eyes' 
in  eleven,  '  ears  of  Indian  corn '  in  nine,  and  '  various  utensils 
of  husbandry  '  in  eight. ^  We  may  be  sure,  if  we  think,  that  lin- 
sey-woolsey is  a  home  product  and  '  just  from  the  loom,'  that 
the  '  resplendent  pewter  would  dazzle  the  eyes.'  '  The  various 
utensils  of  husbandry '  are  like  an  etc.  after  '  flails '  and  '  har- 
ness,' and  the  subsequent  enumeration  of  other  articles  would 
satisfy  the  demand  for  such  an  idea.  The  corn  disappears  in 
the  generalization  of  '  dried  fruit '  that  blankets  the  last  topic. 
On  the  other  hand,  no  one  of  the  notions  of  the  roof,  the 
porch,  the  flails  and  harness,  the  spinning-wheel,  the  churn,  the 
hall,  the  pewter,  the  dresser,  the  wool,  the  dried  fruit,  or  the 
festoons  is  absent  more  than  three  times,  many  only  once,  and 
roof  not  at  all.  These  were  ideas  that  did  not  generalize  and 
at  the  same  time  were  consonant  with  the  notion  of  such  a  farm- 
house. 

In  test  3  ('  The  History  of  the  Jews ')  the  shattering  of  the 

^This  count  is  based  on  the  presence  of  the  idea  in  its  original  form,  and 
not  on  any  trace  of  its  presence. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  79 

subtopics  under  the  influence  of  the  generalizing  process  is  so 
extensive  as  frequently  to  destroy  the  sense  of  many  of  the 
leading  movements  involved.  If  we  were  to  sketch  the  thought 
in  terms  of  the  ideas  that  are  represented  in  the  majority  of 
papers,  it  would  be  :  The  Jews  were  remarkable ;  they  were  in 
servitude  ;  they  conquered  the  inhabitants  of  their  native  land  ; 
they  established  a  peculiar  government ;  they  grew  powerful ; 
they  were  again  enslaved  and  restored  to  their  native  land. 
Here  all  subtopics  have  been  condensed  so  as  to  leave  just 
enough  to  characterize  leading  ideas.  In  several  cases  further 
condensation  is  effected  by  assimilating  the  conquest  of  and  the 
restoration  to  their  native  land  that  followed  the  Egyptian  and 
Babylonian  captivities  respectively.  The  special  peculiarities 
of  the  two  contexts  have  yielded  to  the  generalization  that  the 
likenesses  invite.  Modification  or  omission  is,  therefore,  their 
fate.  Often  enough,  however,  the  minor  points  disappear  be- 
cause they  are  themselves  similar  to  ideas  elsewhere  introduced. 
The  increase  in  numbers  of  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt,  subtopic  7, 
is  clearly  brought  only  in  one  case.  Elsewhere  it  is  evidently 
assimilated  with  growth  in  power  under  a  monarchy,  subtopic 
18.  '  Neighboring  tribes,'  subtopic  16,  is  absent  in  only  four 
out  of  twelve  cases.  Generalization  saved  instead  of  destroying 
it,  for  it  was  a  good  substitute  either  for  the  inhabitants  of  the 
'  valleys  in  Palestine  '  or  for  the  '  monarchies  '  on  the  Euphrates. 
However,  these  ideas  suffered  in  their  integrity,  and  the  topic 
to  which  *  neighboring  tribes '  belongs  disappears  clearly  in 
five  cases  out  of  twelve,  destroyed  probably  because  of  the  em- 
ployment elsewhere  of  its  constituent  ideas.  The  opportunities 
for  such  disintegration  in  the  passage  under  discussion  are  so 
numerous  that  any  adequate  description  of  them  must  be  ex- 
ceedingly tedious.  Let  us  dismiss  the  subject  by  recalling  the 
fact  that  in  spite  of  their  greater  loss  in  topics,  the  third  repro- 
duction of  both  '  The  History  of  the  Jews '  and  the  passage  on 
Comte  suffered  a  larger  percentage  of  loss  in  subtopics  within 
the  topics  that  remained  than  did  that  of  '  The  Dutch  Home- 
stead.' 

It  will  also  be  remembered  that  the  ranking  of  twelve  stu- 
dents in  percentages  of  loss,  third  reproduction,  corresponded 


So  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

fairly  well  in  tests  3  and  5,  while  that  in  test  4  agreed  to  an 
appreciable  extent  with  neither  of  the  others.  In  the  first  repro- 
ductions also  the  rankings  in  tests  3  and  5  show  the  greatest 
value  of  r.  The  students  who  handled  tests  3  and  5  well  con- 
stitute, therefore,  a  common  group,  the  superiority  of  which  does 
not  seem  so  manifest  in  test  4.  How  shall  we  explain  this? 
One  can  scarcely  doubt  that  it  lies  in  the  supposition  that  those 
whose  training  in  the  more  abstract  distinctions  involved  had 
been  sufficiently  extensive  to  make  these  stand  out  sharply 
gained  an  advantage  in  tests  3  and  5  that  they  did  not  possess 
in  test  4.  Of  course  the  factor  of  natural  ability  must  be  con- 
sidered, but  it  is  hard  to  suppose  that  natural  ability  accounts 
for  remembering  abstractions  well  and  more  concrete  matter 
poorly.  Training  seems  to  be  the  only  satisfactory  reason  for 
the  difference.  Nor  can  we  suppose  that  this  training  improved 
the  power  to  seize  the  abstractions  as  much  as  it  did  the  memory 
for  them.  In  the  first  reproduction  abilities  in  tests  3  and  5  cor- 
respond only  a  little  better  with  each  other  than  they  do  with 
that  in  test  4.  But  the  contrast  is  striking  in  the  third  reproduc- 
tion. The  effect  of  training,  I  conceive,  is  to  fix  distinctions  of 
an  abstract  character  in  such  a  way  —  whether  by  embedding 
them  in  concrete  material  or  otherwise  —  as  to  make  them  resist 
more  effectively  the  generalizations  that  memory  inevitably  sets 
on  foot.  Some  further  contributions  on  this  point  may  be  gained 
from  the  papers  on  test  i,  where  adults  and  children  took  part. 

d.  Comparison  of  the  Generalizing  Process  in  Adults 

and  Children. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  memory  for  topics  was  far 
better  with  S.  S.  students  than  with  any  class  of  P.  S.,  No.  40 
pupils.^  They  showed  far  greater  power  of  seizing  the  general 
elements  of  the  passage,  and  of  retaining  them,  even  at  the 
expense  of  greater  percentage  of  loss  of  details  within  the  topics 
retained,  than  was  suffered  by  the  younger  subjects.  More 
light  is  thrown  on  the  reasons  for  this  by  a  consideration  of  the 
topics  and  subtopics  retained  by  the  various  classes  who  took 
part  in  test  i.     The  following  table  offers  the  data  in  regard  to 

1  See  pp.  62-63. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  8 1 

the  topics.     The  record  is  of  the  total  loss  in  the  third  repro- 
duction as  compared  with  the  original  passage. 


27S.  s. 

33  P-  S.  7B 

43  P.  S.  6B 

27  P.  S.  5B 

Contents  of  Topics. 

students. 

Pupils. 

Pupils. 

Pupils. 

Totals 

I .  The  king  and  his  country, 

0 

2.  His  tyranny, 

5 

2 

7 

14 

3.  His  reform, 

7 

4 

4 

15 

4.  Question  of  his  favorite, 

I 

4 

4 

9 

5.  Story  ;  dog  kills  fox, 

2 

I 

3 

6.  Man  hits  dog, 

2 

4 

6 

7.  Horse  treads  on  man, 

I 

I 

2 

3 

7 

8.  Horse  is  lamed, 

3 

4 

7 

4 

18 

9.  The  moral. 

9 

12 

15 

36 

The  S.  S.  students  lost  only  on  topics  7  and  8.  These  two 
topics  frequently  unite.  Both  horse  and  man  are  lamed.  The 
horse  lames  the  man  by  treading  on  him  and  himself  by  stepping 
between  two  stones.  The  ideas,  therefore,  combine  more  readily 
than  any  other  topics  in  the  king's  story.  In  topic  8  the  idea  of 
*  two '  is  the  principal  one  not  occurring  before,  and  we  notice 
its  survival  in  such  fusions  as  '  team  of  horses,'  etc.  The 
notable  thing  about  the  P.  S.  No.  40  records  is  the  great  loss 
of  the  moral,  particularly  in  P.  S.  5B.  Frequently  we  find 
that  the  story  is  concluded  by  a  simple  statement  that  the  king 
now  became  just,  which  satisfies  the  feeling  of  need  for  an 
application  of  the  story  to  the  change  in  the  king's  course.  This 
statement  is,  however,  a  mere  repetition  of  what  is  implied  in 
topic  4,  the  question  of  the  favorite.  Hence  it  is  easily  omitted. 
The  abstract  moral  principle  is  with  the  younger  subjects 
grasped  with  difficulty,  and,  therefore,  easily  generalized  into 
topics  4  and  3,  as  the  concrete  outcome  of  the  story,  which  they 
have  already  chronicled.  Similarly  topic  3,  the  account  of  the 
change,  absorbs  topic  2,  which  describes  the  condition  before 
the  change,  and  both  sometimes  disappear  in  topic  4,  where  a 
reason  for  the  change  is  requested.  The  details  of  the  king's 
story,  on  the  other  hand,  stand  apart  as  concrete  entities  not 
easily  generalized. 

If  we  examine  the  record  of  subtopics,  we  find  that  the  losses 
follow  the  same  rule.  They  occur  because  the  intelligence  and 
experience  of  the  subject  did  not  find  them  sufficiently  striking 
and  distinct  to  prevent  the  resolution  of  similar  ideas  into  each 


82  B.  N.  HENDERSON. 

Other.  Experience  develops  memory,  not  merely  by  bringing 
out  the  relations  that  are  the  basis  of  system,  but  because  it 
emphasizes  the  distinctions  that  without  the  familiarity  that  it 
affords  would  be  quickly  lost  in  generalizations.  The  literal- 
ness  and  love  of  concrete  in  the  child  does  not  mean  inability 
to  generalize.  That  power  is  an  inseparable  attribute  of  mem- 
ory. But  it  means  inability  to  keep  the  generalizations  from 
absorbing  each  other.  To  him  the  concrete  alone  is  proof 
against  such  destruction. 

e.  Extent  of  Loss  of  Details  by  Generalizing  Processes. 

We  have  already  noted  ^  that  the  downright  forgetting  of  an 
important  contributory  thought  plays  a  comparatively  small  part 
in  the  condensations  of  the  later  reproductions.  In  the  12  papers 
in  test  2  furnished  by  E.  H.  S.  8B  students,  I  have  studied  the 
fate  of  each  of  the  detailed  ideas.  If  we  count  an  idea  present 
when  there  is  an  evident  substitute  present  in  the  reproduction, 
we  shall  find  the  percentage  of  loss  in  the  first  reproduction  cut 
down  from  33.4  per  cent,  to  18  per  cent.,  and  the  loss  between 
the  first  and  the  third  reproductions  from  19  per  cent,  to  8  per 
cent.  In  the  third  reproduction  12  out  of  the  64  ideas  of  the 
passage  are  everywhere  represented,  14  are  missing  only  once, 
and  9  only  twice.  Only  6  are  absent  in  more  than  50  per  cent. 
of  the  cases.  These  6  ideas  are  expressed  in  the  original 
passage  by  the  words  '  yet,'  '  moral,'  '  consequent,'  '  most,' 
'  strong,'  '  full.'  There  is  quite  a  little  loss  in  adjectives  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  passage.  An  examination  of  these  will  con- 
vince us  that  they  multiply  distinctions  with  little  difference. 
To  one  who  lacks  concrete  illustrations  of  each  specific  pecu- 
liarity, they  must  give  the  total  impression  of  a  multiplication  of 
words,  all  of  which  amounts  to  eloquence,  sarcasm  and  com- 
manding personal  appearance.  Instead  of  a  loss  of  8  per  cent, 
between  the  first  and  third  reproductions,  we  might  easily  be 
justified  in  saying  that  there  is  none  at  all  save  in  unimportant 
turns  of  expression,  and  in  adjectives  that  carry  to  the  students 
little  or  no  additional  meaning.  The  47  per  cent,  of  loss  from 
the  score  of  the  original  passage  that  we  find  in  the  third  repro- 

» P.  68. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  S3 

duction  can,  therefore,  be  accounted  for  almost  entirely  by  gen- 
eralization and  fusion,  about  half  of  which  has  left  clear  evidence 
of  its  presence  in  the  phaseology  of  the  papers. 

f.  Summary  of  the  Discussion  on  the  Character  of  the 
Changes  in  the  Reproductions. 

What  are  the  general  results  of  our  four  leading  investigations 
on  this  theme  ?  Our  study  of  underscored  words  revealed  a 
developing  inaccuracy,  which  we  attributed  to  an  irradiation  of 
the  feeling  of  familiarity  with  the  thought  over  the  new  words 
that  were  used  to  express  it.  At  the  same  time,  there  was  a 
growing  loss  of  confidence,  indicated  by  less  underscoring  and 
keeping  pace  with  the  greater  inaccuracy.  As  a  general  ex- 
planation of  the  great  loss  of  words  when  the  ideas  remained, 
and  of  confidence  and  accuracy  in  recognizing  them,  we  sug- 
gested the  evident  reason  of  the  rearrangement  of  the  thought- 
The  effect  of  this  would  be  to  render  many  of  the  original 
words  useless,  to  compel  others  to  be  modified  in  form,  and 
to  break  up  the  former  order  of  those  that  remained  so  much  as 
to  destroy  one  set  of  the  mechanical  associations  upon  which 
word  memory  largely  depends.  The  more  rearrangement,  the 
greater  the  loss  of  original  words,  and,  because  of  the  loss  of 
recognition  through  sense  of  the  serial  order  in  the  words,  the 
less  the  confidence  of  the  subject,  and  the  greater  his  inaccuracy. 
When  the  association  of  the  word  to  the  idea  had  to  be  relied 
on  to  effect  recognition,  the  mere  fitness  of  a  word  to  express  a 
thought  would  often  be  sufficient  to  cause  it  to  be  underscored. 

We  have  already  discussed^  the  differences  between  memory 
for  sentences  and  passages  and  memory  for  series  of  discon- 
nected words.  The  fusion  of  the  connected  thoughts  into  com- 
plex notions  of  the  total  meaning  of  the  passages  was  seen  to 
constitute  a  *  grip '  enormously  more  effective  for  holding  both 
ideas  and  words  together  than  the  simple  sense  of  the  situation 
of  the  learning,  which  is  the  only  general  bond  where  uncon- 
nected words  or  thoughts  are  memorized  in  series.  This  gene- 
ral sense  of  meaning  preserves  many  of  the  details  throughout 
the  period  during  which  one  is  thinking  of  the  passage.    Their 

^  See  pp.  22-25. 


84  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

association  is  thus  rendered  simultaneous  rather  than  successive. 
In  recall  they  develop  in  whatever  order  the  generalizing  proc- 
esses by  which  they  are  attacked  may  dictate.  The  answers 
to  the  questionnaires  indicated  that,  after  the  subject  had  as- 
sumed an  attitude  of  attention  involving  suggestions  of  the 
situation  in  which  the  original  passage  was  learned,  the  general 
meaning  rose  in  his  mind,  and  he  began  to  develop  the  details ; 
easily  if  they  were  well  memorized  and  the  mechanism  of  word 
associations  was  in  effective  condition,  with  more  difficulty,  and 
only  by  reasoning  and  experimental  sentences,  if  this  mechanism 
failed.  From  the  testimony  of  the  subjects,  we  are  therefore 
fortified  in  our  notion  of  the  general  meaning  dominating  recall, 
or  better,  resolving  itself  into  the  details  that  constitute  the  re- 
call. From  the  physiological  point  of  view,  we  doubtless  think 
such  meanings  with  a  large  section  of  the  brain,  all  of  which 
remains  in  a  disturbed  condition,  while  its  special  elements 
undergo  in  serial  opder  intenser  excitements  corresponding  to 
the  wandering  of  the  attention. 

From  our  study  of  the  memory  for  topics  and  subtopics  as 
compared  with  that  for  details,  we  discover  that  with  all  classes 
of  subjects  percentages  of  loss  in  the  larger  themes  is  at  first  far 
less  than  that  in  details  within  the  themes  that  are  retained. 
When  the  contents  of  the  topic  dwindles  to  a  few  representative 
details,  then  forgetting  doubtless  ceases  to  impair  these  save 
when  it  sweeps  away  all  except  an  inarticulate  sense  of  the 
larger  meaning.  But  this  disappearance  of  the  details  while 
the  topics  remain  is  not  decay  of  the  living  flesh  leaving  only 
the  skeleton  of  the  thought.  Rather  it  is  the  resolution  of  the 
elements  into  condensed  and  generalized  forms.  It  is  the  body 
compressed  into  the  germ  from  which  it  sprang.  Regrouping, 
with  generalization  of  similar  elements,  fusion  with  modification, 
omission  of  the  unimportant  and  the  easily  understood  sweep 
away  far  more  than  the  omission  of  the  incongruous.  The 
general  meaning  of  the  passage  that  remains,  like  that  which 
was  the  product  of  the  details  when  the  passage  was  first  read, 
is  a  composite  and  not  an  abstraction.  It  is  different  from  its 
prototype  largely  by  virtue  of  the  rearrangements  that  have 
abolished  repetitions. 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  85 

The  feebler  the  sense  of  distinctions,  whether  from  the  lapse 
of  time,  the  ability  of  the  subject,  or  his  training,  the  more 
ready  the  mind  is  to  substitute  a  repetition  of  some  idea  already 
expressed  for  the  thought  which  is  felt  to  be  lacking.  We  may 
count  on  there  being  some  justification,  however  remote,  for 
such  identifying  of  the  distinct.  Subtle  likenesses,  not  con- 
sciously perceived,  are  nevertheless  felt,  and  this  feeling  offers 
a  path  of  least  resistance  for  the  struggling  thought.  Evident 
repetitions  not  in  the  original  appear  and  form  a  basis  for  new 
regroupings  and  condensations.  To  resist  such  absorption  the 
detail  must  be  characterized  by  points  of  difference  more  potent 
than  the  identities  with  the  rest  of  the  passage.  Herein  appears 
the  effect  of  training.  Its  object  is  quite  as  much  to  force  to  the 
front  differences  as  to  induce  generalization.  Indeed,  since 
generalization  is  so  easy  and  distinction  so  difficult,  probably 
the  stress  of  educational  effort  must  be  spent  on  training  acute- 
ness  in  perceiving  the  unlike.  The  difficulty  in  generalization 
is  invariably  due  to  inability  to  see  the  distinctions  upon  which 
generalization  is  based.  The  stupid  miM  does  not  fail  to  gen- 
eralize, but  generalizes  badly.  It  groups  together  ideas  widely 
different  on  the  basis  of  superficial  similarities,  while  the  factors 
that  resist  such  classifications,  and,  indeed,  compel  others,  re- 
main unheeded.^ 

Educational   Significance  of   the    Results   of   Special 

Research. 

It  is  of  some  value  to  the  teacher  to  know  that  ability  to  learn 
correlates  to  a  large  extent  with  ability  to  remember.  Judg- 
ments of  relative  ability  based  on  either  of  these  powers  are  apt 
to  be  valid  for  both.  Marks  on  daily  work  will  serve  to  deter- 
mine the  standing  that  would  have  been  attained  in  monthly 
tests,  provided  the  daily  mark  is  based  on  the  amount  learned 
by  the  student  in  a  given  time,  and  the  monthly  test  is  preceded 
by  no  special  review,  in  which  some  labor  more  assiduously 
than  others.  School  marks,  however,  depend  very  largely  on 
conduct  and  application.  Ability  is  often  only  a  secondary 
matter.     The   small   correlation  in  the  case  of  P.  S.  No.  40 

1  See  Tarde,  ' Social  Laws.' 


86  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 

pupils  between  the  teacher's  marks  and  rank  in  the  test  is  evi- 
dence of  this.  The  memory  test  is,  indeed,  not  a  satisfactory- 
test  of  reasoning.  But  it  is  probably  as  near  a  test  of  general 
ability  as  any  could  be  that  appealed  largely  to  specific  powers. 
Doubtless  several  tests  like  those  submitted  by  me  would,  at 
any  rate,  determine  relative  ability  in  memory.  It  would  cer- 
tainly be  a  valuable  thing  for  teachers  to  know  of  their  classes 
just  what  this  relative  ability  is,  and,  if  these  tests  could  be  sup- 
plemented by  others,  determining  power  in  the  various  lines 
along  which  school  work  proceeds,  it  would  be  possible  for  the 
teacher  to  tell  what  part  of  the  results  attained  in  the  school  is 
due  to  industry.  If  a  true  judgment  of  the  pupil  is  desirable,  a 
clear  separation  of  ability  from  perseverance  is  equally  so. 

It  is  also  worth  while  for  the  teacher  to  know  that  the  power 
to  remember  connected  trains  of  thought  grows  with  the  growth 
in  clear  recognition  of  the  factors  entering  into  them.  Not  age 
but  training  is  probably  the  secret  of  whatever  greater  ability 
the  older  classes  posses.  Their  notion  of  the  separate  elements, 
particularly  the  abstract  ones,  is  clear  enough  to  prevent  the  de- 
struction of  these  units  through  the  generalizing  processes  that 
are  inherent  in  the  act  of  remembering.  Education  aims  to 
strengthen  the  sense  of  distinctions  quite  as  much  as  the  con- 
sciousness of  congruity.  It  is  true  that  system  is  the  secret  of 
memory.  But  system  rests  on  the  discovery  of  distinctions  un- 
noted by  the  unsystematic,  which  constitute  threads  of  connec- 
tion between  details.  It  elevates  the  association  between  these 
details  from  a  mere  serial  association  by  contiguity  to  a  simul- 
taneous association  in  which  similarity  plays  a  most  important 
part.  Now  the  kind  of  connection  that  makes  all  these  details 
one  thought  may  absorb  them  so  that  in  recall  their  separate  ex- 
istence is  lost.  System  is  the  secret  of  remembering,  but  also 
of  forgetting  whatever  it  finds  inconsistent  or  unnecessary. 

The  meaning  into  which  a  group  of  connected  ideas  coal- 
esces is  often  spoken  of  as  a  general  idea  of  them.  The  ex- 
pression is  not  inappropriate.  It  is  a  composite  general  idea,  a 
product  of  the  generalization  of  its  details,  whether  blind  or 
intelligent,  systematic  or  chaotic.  Such  a  composite  idea  is  not 
so  different  from  an  abstraction  as  we  might  think.     When  we 


A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  87 

eliminate  differences  and  are  left  with  identities,  we  have  ab- 
stractions. But  the  consciousness  of  such  ideas  need  not  be  a 
barren  thing.  Indeed,  what  makes  the  abstraction  worth  while 
is  that  it  comes  to  us  entangled  in  a  mesh  of  experiences  which 
it  serves  to  systematize.  The  most  valuable  of  general  ideas 
is,  therefore,  the  concretest  of  abstractions  in  the  richness  of  the 
material  which  springs  into  the  mind  attentive  to  it.  It  is  in 
such  concrete  generalities  that  education  finds  its  most  worthy 
results. 

When  we  reflect  upon  the  small  fraction  of  what  we 
learned  in  school  that  remains  within  our  power  of  distinct  re- 
call, we  are  prone  to  think  the  time  spent  there  to  have  been 
largely  wasted  ;  at  any  rate,  so  far  as  preparation  for  the  future 
is  concerned.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  impressions  that 
we  retain,  however  vague  they  may  seem,  are  a  product  of  all 
the  thought  involved  in  their  attainment.  A  statement  that  to 
us  now  might  seem  fully  adequate  to  indicate  the  present  net 
result  of  the  subject  then  studied,  would  not,  if  uttered  by  an- 
other, produce  in  us  the  idea  we  actually  have.  Such  an  idea 
really  is  a  product  of  the  experience  by  which  it  arose,  and  it 
could  be  given  to  us  by  no  other  agency  than  that  experience. 
Upon  its  richness  depends  the  vitality  of  the  idea,  its  effective- 
ness in  restoring  the  details  out  of   which  it  originally  sprang. 


88 


E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


APPENDIX. 

Summer  Session  Students.    The  King  Who  Became  Just. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

Age.             ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep.        3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

ad  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

Adult.             67  + 

64 

56 

114  + 

89  + 

72 

2 

64 

52 

55  + 

97 

60 

65  + 

3 

'                          62 

55  + 

56  + 

95  + 

73  + 

77  + 

4 

58  + 

57  + 

56 

98  + 

89  + 

90 

5 

58 

51  + 

49  + 

85  + 

63  + 

49  + 

6 

57 

53  + 

47 

72  + 

59 

49  + 

7 

56 

49  + 

49 

78  + 

57 

55 

« 

54 

49  + 

50  + 

71 

60 

52 

9 

51  + 

46  + 

40  + 

82  + 

60 

43 

lO 

'                 51 

47 

45  + 

68  + 

54 

54 

II 

51 

47 

42 

76 

58 

41 

12 

49 

49  + 

48  + 

72  + 

69  + 

63 

13 

49 

37 

35 

64  + 

37 

3"  + 

14 

45 

46  + 

39 

71  + 

64 

50 

15 

45 

37 

35  + 

50 

27  + 

26 

i6 

42 

41  + 

38  + 

48  + 

43 

34 

J7 

'                 41 

36  + 

35  + 

58 

39 

33 

P. 

S.  7B  PuPir,s 

The  King  Who  Became  Just. 

Rank. 

] 

[deas. 

Words. 

3st  Rep. 

Ag< 

:.          ist  Rep.     2 

d  Rep.       3d  Rep.         i 

3t  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

U 

63+ 

55           57+ 

108 

70 

85 

2 

It 

63 

63           63 

105+ 

105 

105 

3 

'^2 

61 

61+        60 

TOO 

98 

99 

4 

15 

59 

51            51+ 

93+ 

79+ 

78+ 

5 

i^ 

57+ 

55            52+ 

77 

69 

58 

6 

13 

57+ 

54+        48 

So 

73+ 

62+ 

7 

13 

.            57 

56+        58 

82+ 

84+ 

76 

8 

12 

57 

53+        53+ 

89+ 

76+ 

73 

9 

14 

\            56 

56            41 

91  + 

77+ 

47+ 

ID 

16 

56 

53+        46 

82+ 

73+ 

54+ 

11 

M 

[           55+ 

49+        44 

80+ 

66+ 

50+ 

12 

i« 

i            54+ 

52+        48 

76+ 

67 

58 

13 

13 

53 

56+        50 

63 

67+ 

65 

14 

I! 

5            53 

53+        40 

69+ 

64 

34 

15 

IS 

'.            52+ 

45+        42+ 

64 

50 

44 

i6 

i« 

5            52 

44+        39 

75+ 

60-f 

42+ 

17 

i<i 

J            50 

46+        47+ 

76 

71 

63 

i8 

I/! 

[           49+ 

53            52 

68+ 

64 

60 

A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  89 


Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

st  Rep. 

Age. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

19 

13 

48+ 

49+ 

57+ 

70 

68 

40+ 

20 

15 

48+ 

42 

38+ 

59 

50+ 

42  + 

21 

14 

46+ 

47 

36+ 

64 

59 

37 

22 

13 

45 

40+ 

30+ 

64+ 

52 

40 

23 

14 

45 

39+ 

23+ 

57 

45+ 

25+ 

24 

14 

45 

37 

33 

66  + 

44 

41 

25 

13 

44+ 

41 

34 

64+ 

59+ 

41 

26 

12 

43+ 

41  + 

39 

62+ 

52+ 

50+ 

27 

13 

42+ 

43+ 

40+ 

62+ 

58+ 

47+ 

28 

— 

42 

40+ 

30 

52 

50+ 

32 

29 

12 

41 

30+ 

26+ 

47 

35 

26+ 

30 

14 

38+ 

38+ 

36+ 

48  f 

39+ 

41 

31 

14 

36 

32+ 

22 

47+ 

32 

21+ 

32 

13 

35+ 

31  + 

26+ 

44+ 

36+ 

29+ 

33 

15 

26 

19+ 

15 

30+ 

17 

12 

P.    S. 

6B  Pupii,s.    The  King  Who  Became  Just. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

Age. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep- 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

II 

61 

61 

61 

82 

87+ 

85 

2 

15 

59 

58+ 

56 

99+ 

95 

89 

3 

12 

58+ 

60 

53+ 

lOT 

TOO 

81  + 

4 

12 

58+ 

51  + 

53 

71  + 

53 

54+ 

5 

12 

56+ 

58+ 

54 

89 

92 

78+ 

6 

14 

56+ 

58+ 

53 

86 

84+ 

76+ 

7 

12 

54 

53+ 

49 

83 

69+ 

56 

8 

14 

54 

50+ 

54 

78+ 

68 

72+ 

9 

15 

52+ 

55+ 

55+ 

80 

89+ 

90+ 

10 

II 

52+ 

50+ 

48+ 

69+ 

68 

60 

II 

14 

51 

+55 

49 

73+ 

69+ 

50 

12 

II 

51+ 

54 

50 

68+ 

73+ 

66 

13 

13 

51+ 

51  + 

51 

71 

70+ 

64+ 

14 

13 

51+ 

45 

41 

67+ 

51+ 

42 

15 

12 

51 

48+ 

43 

67 

61  + 

48 

16 

13 

50+ 

44 

38 

77+ 

55+ 

37 

17 

14 

49  + 

43 

42+ 

67+ 

54 

48 

18 

12 

49 

49 

41 

60+ 

62+ 

54 

19 

— 

49 

47+ 

49 

66+ 

57 

58+ 

20 

14 

48+ 

50+ 

45 

68 

65+ 

57+ 

21 

13 

48 

49 

47 

68 

65 

59 

22 

12 

47+ 

49 

41 

68 

70+ 

51 

23 

14 

47+ 

48+ 

46 

62 

61  + 

57+ 

24 

14 

47+ 

48+ 

41 

70+ 

75+ 

55+ 

25 

II 

46+ 

45 

43 

62+ 

62+ 

60+ 

26 

II 

46 

49 

37+ 

51 

57 

45 

27 

15 

46 

44+ 

41 

66 

53+ 

53 

28 

13 

45+ 

48 

47 

52+ 

60+ 

54+ 

29 

13 

43+ 

42+ 

32+ 

50+ 

51 

32 

90  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

St  Rep. 

Age. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

30 

14 

43 

33+ 

35 

55 

41+ 

38+ 

31 

14 

42+ 

37+ 

19+ 

56+ 

49+ 

20 

32 

II 

42 

35  + 

29+ 

52 

48 

30 

33 

12 

42 

33 

32+ 

54 

36+ 

37+ 

34 

13 

40+ 

35 

29+ 

53  + 

45 

32 

35 

12 

40 

39+ 

44+ 

62 

61+ 

61 

36 

12 

39+ 

42+ 

38 

50 

53+ 

51 

37 

13 

39 

38+ 

34 

52 

41+ 

29 

38 

II 

37+ 

36+ 

35+ 

43 

39 

35 

39 

14 

35+ 

33+ 

29+ 

52 

41 

46+ 

40 

13 

32 

25+ 

24 

46+ 

33+ 

29+ 

41 

12 

25 

27+ 

27+ 

38 

43+ 

41+ 

42 

12 

22+ 

21  + 

22 

35 

31+ 

31+ 

43 

14 

11+ 

10+ 

15 

21 

17 

22+ 

P.  S.  5B  Pupii^.    The  King  Who  Became  Just. 


Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

1st  Rep. 

Age. 

1st  Rep. 

zd  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

10 

57 

62 

59 

91 

97 

96 

2 

13 

53 

49+ 

42+ 

77 

55+ 

51  + 

3 

14 

52 

49+ 

41 

73+ 

67+ 

52 

4 

12 

51 

42+ 

37 

71  + 

53+ 

52  + 

5 

13 

49 

47 

34 

75+ 

63+ 

33+ 

6 

13 

47 

48+ 

35+ 

58 

45+ 

43 

7 

II 

47 

45 

43 

65 

68 

59+ 

8 

12 

43+ 

43+ 

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42 

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— 

31 

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21 

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20 

30 

28 

25+ 

A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  91 

E.  H.  S.  8B  Students.    Cicero, 


Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

1st  Rep. 

ist  Ret 

).          zd  Rep 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

62 

62+ 

118+ 

117 

2 

48+ 

46+ 

41 

84+ 

80 

67 

3 

47 

47+ 

46+ 

84+ 

81 

80+ 

4 

44 

43 

35 

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52 

5 

42 

42 

36 

77 

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53 

6 

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31 

30 

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48 

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7 

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23 

73 

89 

46 

8 

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17 

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33 

9 

37 

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31  + 

73 

69 

52+ 

10 

37 

30 

22 

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45+ 

31 

II 

36+ 

36+ 

32 

66+ 

66+ 

55+ 

12 

36 

34+ 

26 

61 

61+ 

41 

E.  H.  S.  i 

^B  Students.    Cicero 

. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

1st  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

57 

55 

48 

104 

103 

77 

2 

53+ 

57+ 

37+ 

103+ 

100 

56 

3 

47 

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30 

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34 

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39 

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17 
A  Students 

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ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

ad  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

60 

30 

14 

102+ 

52 

18 

2 

56- 

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33 

103 

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43+ 

3 

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7 

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73 

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29 

8 

39 

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29 

57 

47 

32+ 

92  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

9 

38 

35 

35+ 

73+ 

67  + 

63 

■  lO 

38 

28+ 

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24 

II 

38 

32 

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56 

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36 

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34 

22 

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19 

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29 

15+ 

C0L1.EGE  Students. 

Cicero. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

61 

36+ 

Ill 

41 

2 

60 

56 

54 

102 

92 

78+ 

3 

59 

55 

54 

113 

92 

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4 

58 

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104 

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5 

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6 

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20 

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31 

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30 

30 

24 

45+ 

39 

26 

COI,I,EGE 

Students.    The  History  of  the  Jews. 

Rank. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

Test  2. 

ist  Rep.        2d 

Rep.        3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

10 

52+            42+            43+ 

53+ 

32 

30+ 

2 

7 

^ 

51              41+           43+ 

61 

42 

44 

3 

13 

i 

^3              3 

1+            32 

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6 

41                 27+            25 

48 

30 

22 

A    STUDY  OF  MEMORY.  93 


Rank. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

Test  2.     I 

St  Rep.        [ad  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

st  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3P  Rep. 

5 

14 

39 

21+ 

21 

50+ 

21  + 

20+ 

6 

19 

38 

17 

13 

27 

15 

5 

7 

5 

36 

24 

29+ 

59 

32+ 

34 

8 

8 

35 

34 

31  + 

49 

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9 

20 

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15 

35 

25 

26+ 

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25 

17+ 

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3 

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12 

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32 

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19 

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17 

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27+ 

4 

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2 

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28 

17 

17 

33 

12+ 

15+ 

Graduate  Students. 

The  History  of  the  Jews. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep.          ■ 

5d  Rep.      ist  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

67 

48+ 

48+ 

115 

64+ 

53+ 

2 

6o 

57+ 

54+ 

100 

85 

81+ 

3 

57+ 

40+ 

45 

68 

45 

47+ 

4 

55 

43+ 

37 

66 

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32 

5 

51+ 

42 

32+ 

58 

44 

33 

6 

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40+ 

72 

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7 

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40 

63 

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32 

54 

28 

27 

9 

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27 

40 

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22 

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40 

18+ 

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53 

23 

15+ 

II 

39+ 

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12 

38 

32 

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59 

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13 

38 

35 

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33 

26+ 

14 

34 

32 

27 

35+ 

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23 

15 

32 

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36 

17+ 

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20 

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17 

17 

25+ 

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5+ 

38 

23+ 

6 

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16 

10+ 

7 

27 

6 

4 

Graduate  Students 

.    The  Dutch  Homestead. 

Rank. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

Test  3. 

ist  Rep.      zd  Rep, 

3d  Rep. 

1st  Rep.      2d  Rep.      3d  Rep. 

I 

I 

77 

50 

37+ 

Ill 

+          60+ 

40 

2 

2 

73 

50 

41+ 

131 

91 

60 

3 

12 

70 

59+ 

50 

96+          70 

59 

4 

6 

64 

62 

56+ 

112 

104+ 

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5 

8 

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40 

98 

79 

53 

6 

5 

61 

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102 

+        62 

55 

7 

13 

60 

57+ 

55+ 

98+            81  + 

78 

8 

II 

60 

54+ 

47+ 

90 

73 

53 

94  E.  N.  HENDERSON. 


Rank 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

ist  Rep. 

Test  3. 

ist  Rep. 

ad  Rep. 

1st  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

2d  Rep. 

3d  Rep 

9 

i6 

57 

35 

26+ 

80 

39 

27 

.  lo 

7 

53 

53+ 

47+ 

81+ 

71 

54+ 

II 

15 

53 

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41 

77 

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12 

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37 

35+ 

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52 

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13 

4 

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31 

77 

60 

39 

14 

14 

44 

40+ 

29 

78+ 

70 

47+ 

15 

17 

32 

23 

25+ 

51 

28 

35 

Graduate  Students.    The  Stages  in  the  Development  of  Human 

Theories. 


Rank. 

Rank. 

Ideas. 

Words. 

St  Rep. 

Test  3- 

tst  Rep. 

ad  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

ist  Rep. 

ad  Rep. 

3d  Rep. 

I 

2 

73 

34 

49+ 

128 

42 

79 

2 

5 

72+ 

59+ 

40 

lOI 

79+ 

37+ 

3 

9 

68+ 

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52+ 

16 

4 

I 

53+ 

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29 

78 

18 

23 

5 

4 

52 

25+ 

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29 

17+ 

6 

II 

49 

34 

19+ 

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31 

13+ 

7 

6 

42+ 

45 

17 

70 

71 

19 

8 

12 

40+ 

31+ 

25+ 

54 

37 

25  + 

9 

15 

35 

24+ 

19 

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26 

20 

10 

13 

35 

20+ 

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36+ 

20 

II 

8 

34+ 

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5 

42 

24 

3 

12 

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31  + 

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9 

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31 

14 

13 

14 

28+ 

26+ 

16+ 

47 

35+ 

21 

14 

18 

27 

22+ 

24+ 

43 

32 

34 

OF  TH 

'  f  f  0,1 


OF  THE 


'-  Town 


VITA. 

The  writer  was  born  in  LaSalle  County,  Illinois,  December 
17,  1869;  removed  to  California  in  1880;  graduated  from  Uni- 
versity of  California,  1890,  degree  Ph.B.  ;  teacher  in  Secondary 
School,  San  Mateo,  CaL,  1890-92;  Fellow  in  Philosophy, 
University  of  California;  1892-95;  took  degrees  A.B.  1893, 
A.M.  1894,  University  of  California ;  principal  and  teacher  of 
classics.  Woodland  High  School,  Woodland,  CaL,  1895-97; 
Instructor  in  Psychology  and  Education,  California  State  Nor- 
mal School,  Chico,  CaL,  1897-1901  ;  Fellow  in  Education, 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  1901-1902  ;  Professor 
of  Education,  Adelphi  College,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  1902-. 


AK  imTXAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WIUU  INCREASE  ^Of  CENTS  O  ^^^       ^h     DAY 
DAY     AND     TO     $1-00     ON    ^H    .^  ^^^^,^p£|!l 
OVERDUE.  >•        .^ajrJAA= 


LD21-100m-7,'39(402i 


VD  00712 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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